Paper 

Manufacturing 
in  the 

United  States 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 
Getty  Research  Institute 


https://archive.org/details/historyofpaperma00week_0 


/ 


Dam  of  The  Rtttenhouse  Mill  in  Germantown,  Penn 
Site  of  the  First  Paper-Mill  in  the  United  States,  1690 


A  HISTORY 


OF 


PAPER-MANUFACTURING 

IN  THE 

UNITED  STATES,  1690-1916 


BY 

LYMAN  HORACE  WEEKS 


Author  of  “An  Historical  Digest  of  the  Provincial  Press,”  “Legal 
and  Judicial  History  of  New  \ork,”  “Prominent  Families 
of  New  York,”  “Book  of  Bruce,”  etc.,  etc. 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW  YORK 

The  I.Dcbwooil  Trade  Journal  Company 
1916. 


5 


Copyright,  1916, 

By  Th#  Lockwood  Trade  Journal  Company 
All  rights  reserved. 


TUC  <^CTT\/  r'CMXCD 


PREFACE 


Many  books  have  been  written  concerning  the  purely 
technical  sides  of  paper-making  and  much  about 
the  origin  and  history  of  the  craft  among  the  peoples  of 
the  old  world.  Also  there  have  been  considerable  accounts 
of  special  features  of  it  in  this  country;  descriptions  of 
individual  mills ;  sketches  of  manufacturers,  inventors  and 
scientists;  considerations  of  the  introduction  and  improve¬ 
ment  of  new  methods,  new  materials  and  new  machinery 
and  their  influence;  records  of  organizations,  and  so  on. 
All  this  latter,  however — ^though  wholly  admirable,  inter¬ 
esting  and  valuable  in  itself — has  been  of  a  desultory  and 
disconnected  character:  mainly  chapters  in  books,  maga¬ 
zines  and  newspapers;  papers  read  before  business  asso¬ 
ciations,  conventions  and  societies ;  addresses  and  discus¬ 
sions  in  legislative  bodies,  and  essays  and  treatises  in  scien¬ 
tific  periodicals. 

This  History  covers  the  field  differently.  It  is  the  only 
attempt  that  has  been  made  to  bring  into  one  complete, 
compact  narrative  all  the  material  facts  relating  to  the 
industry  and  to  present  in  an  exhaustive  and  comprehen¬ 
sive  manner,  on  the  purely  historical  side,  the  annals  of  this 
branch  of  American  manufacturing,  from  the  erecting  of 
the  first  little  mill  in  Philadelphia,  in  1690,  to  the  opening 
years  of  the  twentieth  century.  What  has  been  done  in 
this  way  for  coal-mining,  agriculture,  many  branches  of 
manufacturing,  oil  production,  the  iron  and  steel  industries 
and  other  American  industrial  activities  has  been  here 
attempted  for  paper-making. 

Gathering  material  for  this  History  has  occupied  much 
of  the  tim.e  of  the  author  for  several  years  past,  in  con¬ 
junction  with  research  along  other  historical  lines.  It  is 
confidently  believed  that,  in  the  preparation  of  the  work, 
the  ground  has  been  covered  broadly  and  soundly,  con- 


VIII 


PREFACE 


sidering  the  limitations  of  the  subject  and  the  scanty 
sources  of  information.  The  extent  of  the  reading  and 
investigation  undertaken  therewith  is,  in  a  measure,  indi¬ 
cated  by  the  authorities  consulted,  references  to  which 
have  been  copiously  given.  In  addition,  much  has  been 
derived  from  the  personal  knowledge  of  individuals  who 
have  been  active  in  the  industry  in  contemporaneous  times. 

Short-comings  and  errors  exist  in  the  work.  No  one 
can  be  more  conscious  of  that  than  the  author.  Such  is 
an  unfortunate  but  an  inevitable  concomitant  of  a  com¬ 
pilation  of  this  sort,  dependent,  as  it  is,  for  its  subject- 
matter,  upon  records  that,  in  the  remote  past  most  notably, 
are  meagre  and  often  unreliable  and  contradictory.  It 
is  hoped,  however,  that  any  errancy  of  that  kind  may  not 
materially  detract  from  the  interest  of  the  work  as  a  nar¬ 
rative  or  from  its  historical  value.  If  it  ''hall  have  suc¬ 
ceeded  in  preserving  in  enduring  form  the  otherwise 
fugitive  records  of  one  of  the  great  industries  of  the 
United  States,  and  if  it  may  find  acceptance  as  a  not  un¬ 
worthy  contribution  to  the  literature  of  American  indus¬ 
trial  history,  its  main  purpose  will  have  been  substan¬ 
tially  accomplished. 


Lyman  Horace  Weeks. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  ONE 

BUILDING  THE  FIRST  MILLS 

Three  Pioneer  Establishments  in  Pennsylvania— Ritten- 
HOUSE  and  De  Wees  in  Germantown  and  Willcox  in 
Chester  County — William  Bradford,  the  Printer,  a 
Promoter  of  Paper  Manufacturing — The  Mills  of  Ritten- 
HOUSE  and  Willcox  Became  Permanent  and  Successful 


CHAPTER  TWO 

OTHER  MILLS  OF  THE  COLONIES 

A  Second  Venture  Is  Made  by  Bradford  the  Printer — First 
Mills  Are  Established  in  Massachusetts,  Maine,  Con¬ 
necticut,  New  York  and  Elsewhere — The  Mill  of  the 
Ephrata  German  Community  in  Pennsylvania  —  Saur, 
Famous  Printer  of  the  German  Bible,  Also  Builds  a  Mill 


CHAPTER  THREE 

A  PAPER  POVERTY 

Mills  of  the  Colonial  Period  Were  Few  in  Number  and  Poorly 
Equipped  —  Importations  Were  Slow  and  Scant  —  News¬ 
papers  Resorted  to  Curious  Makeshifts — Extraordinary 
Scarcity  During  the  Revolution — Legislative  Action  to 
Encourage  Manufacturing  and  Conserve  the  Supply 


X 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  FOUR 

EQUIPMENT  AND  RAW  MATERIAL 

Colonial  Paper  Was  All  Hand-made — Machinery  Unknown — 
Mills  Hampered  by  Difficulty  in  Procuring  Raw  Mate¬ 
rials — Newspapers  and  Legislatures  Implored  People  to 
Help  by  Saving  Rags— The  Early  Methods  of  Manufac¬ 
turing — Some  Prices  of  Paper  in  1729,  1780  and  1792 


CHAPTER  FIVE 

AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION 

Slow  Industrial  Growth  of  the  Nation — Paper-making  Still 
Confined  Mostly  to  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  Connecti¬ 
cut  and  Massachusetts — New  Mills  in  Those  and  Other 
States — Legislative  Encouragement  to  Manufacturers — 
First  Inventors — Tariff  Measures  of  the  Government 


CHAPTER  SIX 

INTO  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

Mills  Increased  in  Number  in  the  First  Decade — Statistics 
from  the  Census  of  1810  and  Isaiah  Thomas'  Estimate — 
Business  Depression  After  the  War  of  1812 — Tariff  Pro¬ 
tection  FOR  Paper — Rags  Still  Continued  to  Be  Very 
Scarce — Some  Prices  That  Prevailed  in  1815  and  1821 


CHAPTER  SEVEN 

A  STEADILY  GROWING  INDUSTRY. 

The  Famous  Ames  Manufacturers  and  Their  Work— First 
Mills  in  Berkshire  County,  Mass. — Other  Mills,  Old  and 
New,  in  Massachusetts,  Connecticut  and  Elsewhere — 
Scant  Statistics  from  the  Census  of  1820 — Old-time  Mill 
Equipment  and  the  Old-time  Papermakers 


CONTENTS 


XI 


CHAPTER  EIGHT  Page 

148 

IN  MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHERN  STATES 

Beginning  in  Central  and  Northern  New  York — Mills  That 
Endured  Substantially  Unchanged  for  a  Hundred  Years — 

The  Famous  Mill  of  the  Gilpin  Brothers  in  Delaware — 

— Planting  the  Industry  in  Western  Pennsylvania,  Ohio, 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee 


CHAPTER  NINE  170 

THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  MACHINERY 

Hollander  Engines  for  Pulp-Beating — Invention  of  the  Four- 

DRINIER  AND  ItS  IMPORTATION  INTO  THE  UNITED  STATES — 

Americans  Invent  and  Improve  Cylinder  Machines — Other 
Inventors  and  Inventions — Radical  Changes  in  Manu¬ 
facturing  Methods  Are  Gradually  Introduced 


CHAPTER  TEN  191 

A  CENTURY  AND  A  HALF  OF  GROWTH 

Feeling  the  Stimulus  of  the  New  Machinery — Tariff  Agi¬ 
tation-Mills  IN  the  East  Grow  in  Size  and  Importance 
— The  Beginning  of  the  Industry  in  Indiana  and  Other 
States — Making  Straw  Paper  in  Columbia  County,  New 
York — Mill  Statistics  from  the  Census  of  1840 


CHAPTER  ELEVEN  211 

THE  SEARCH  FOR  RAW  MATERIAL 

Scarcity  of  the  Staple  Linen  Stock  Ever  Present — Numerous 
Vegetable  Fibres  are  Tried — Curious  Tales  of  Many  Hope¬ 
ful  Experimenters — Straw  the  First  Considerable  Addi¬ 
tion — Finally,  Pulp  from  Wood  Comes  in  and  Revolu¬ 
tionizes  Papermaking — The  Great  Wood  Pulp  Processes 


XII 


CONTENTS 


Page  CHAPTER  TWELVE 

239 

BEFORE  AND  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

Changing  Conditions  Stimulate  Manufacturing  in  New  Eng¬ 
land  AND  THE  Middle  States — First  Mills  in  Fitchburg 
and  Holyoke,  AIassachusetts — Big  Increase  in  Straw- 
Paper  Making  in  New  York— Developments  of  the  Black 
River  Country — Destruction  of  the  Industry  in  the  South 


270  CHAPTER  THIRTEEN 

AN  ERA  OF  PROSPERITY 

In  the  Years  Following  the  Civil  War— A  Unique  Directory  of 
1864 — Growth  of  the  Industry  in  Ohio — Futile  Attempts 
to  Start  Paper-Making  in  Utah — Founding  the  Industry 
in  the  North-West — Rapid  Advancement  in  Holyoke,  Mas¬ 
sachusetts — Some  Amazing  Prices  of  that  Period 


CHAPTER  FOURTEEN 

MODERN  EXPANSION 

Mills  Increased  in  Number  and  in  Size  in  All  Parts  of  the 
United  States — Machinery  Expansion — The  Rise  of  Big 
Corporations — New  Men,  New  Methods  and  New  Accom¬ 
plishments — Growth  of  Foreign  Trade— Exporting  is  Be¬ 
gun  IN  Competition  for  the  Markets  of  the  World 


CHAPTER  FIFTEEN 

INTO  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 

Latest  Census  Figures — A  Wood-Pulp  Issue  With  Canada — 
Exports  From  the  Dominion  Increased — The  Great  Europ¬ 
ean  War  and  Its  Effects — Scarcity  of  Paper  Stock  and 
Other  Materials — A  Paper-Famine  With  Rising  Prices 
— A  Sectional  and  State  Review  of  the  Industry 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Rittenhouse  Mill-Dam 
Third  Rittenhouse  Mill 
Rittenhouse  Water  Mark  . 
Willcox  Ivy  Mill 
Ivy  Mills  Water  Mark  . 
Daniel  Henchman 
Thomas  Hancock 
Samuel  Waldo 
Ephrata  Mills  Water  Mark 
Ephrata  Mills 
Christopher  Leffingwell 
A  Printer’s  Paper  Economy 
Nathan  Sellers 
Advertisement  for  Rags 
Interior  of  an  Old  Mill 
Eden  Vale  Mill 
Christopher  Gore 
Isaiah  Thomas  Mill 
Isaiah  Thomas  . 

Benjamin  Franklin  . 

Robert  R.  Livingston 
Seth  Hawley 
David  Ames 
Zenas  Crane 
David  Carson 
Daniel  Vose 
John  Roberts  . 

Seth  Bemis 
Caleb  Burbank  . 

David  Humphrey 


Frontispiece 

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9 

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13 

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22 
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.  86 
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.  136 

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.  140 


XIV 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Humphreysville  Alill  .......  141 

Samuel  Phillips  ........  144 

Eckstein  Mill  .........  147 

Nathaniel  Rochester  .......  149 

Eagle  Mill,  Exterior  .......  150 

Eagle  Mill,  Interior  ........  151 

George  W.  Knovvlton  .......  154 

Gilpin  Mill  .........  158 

Sunnydale  Mill,  Exterior  ......  164 

Sunnydale  Mill,  Interior  .......  166 

Smallest  Paper  Machine  .......  177 

John  .\mes  .........  179 

Peter  Adams  .........  181 

William  Staniar  ........  183 

Cornelius  Van  Houten  .......  185 

Lemuel  Crehore  ........  198 

Thomas  Rice,  Jr.  .......  .  200 

James  M.  Willcox  ........  205 

George  A.  Shryock  ........  221 

Hugh  Burgess  ........  227 

Roger’s  Ford  W  ood-Pulp  Alill  ......  228 

Benjamin  C.  Tilghman  .......  231 

George  N.  Fletcher  ........  232 

Alpena  Pulp-Mill  ........  233 

.\lbrecht  Pagenstecher  .......  235 

First  Bill  for  American  Wood-Pulp  .....  236 

Curtisville  Pulp-Mill  .......  237 

Elizur  Smith  .........  242 

Byron  Weston  .........  245 

J.  C.  Parsons  .........  246 

i’arsons’  Mill  .........  247 

Aaron  Bagg  .........  248 

William  Whiting  ........  249 

James  H.  Newton  ........  250 

Wells  Southworth  ........  251 

Carew  Mill . 252 

Joseph  Carew  .........  253 

.'Mvah  Crocker  ........  254 

G.  S,  Burbank . 255 

George  Bird  .........  256 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


XV 


Charles  H.  Dexter  ........  258 

Illustrious  Remington  .......  261 

B.  B.  Taggart  .........  262 

Martin  Nixon  .........  264 

William  H.  Nixon  ........  265 

A  Paper-Mill  Trade  Mark  ......  267 

Joseph  McDowell  ........  268 

D.  E.  Mead  .........  276 

A.  E.  Harding  .........  278 

Thomas  Beckett  ........  278 

Adam  Laurie  .........  279 

Thomas  Howard  ........  282 

Howard  Lockwood  ........  299 

George  F.  Steele  ........  300 

William  A.  Russell  ........  303 

Arthur  C.  Hastings  ........  305 

O.  C.  Barber  .........  306 

John  G.  Luke  .........  309 

William  H.  Parsons  ........  311 

The  Oxford  Mill  ........  320 

S.  D.  Warren . 322 

W.  H.  Sharp . 323 

W.  N.  Caldwell . 323 

A.  W.  Esleeck  .........  324 

George  W.  Wheelwright  .......  324 

Mark  Hollingsworth  ........  326 

Edwin  R.  Redhead  ........  328 

John  F.  King . 328 

J.  A.  Outterson  .........  329 

B.  B.  Taggart . 329 

Augustus  G.  Paine  ........  333 

Bloomfield  H.  Moore  .......  335 

E.  L.  Embree  .........  337 

F.  L.  Moore  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  _  337 

J.  A.  Kimberly  .........  340 

G.  E.  Bardeen  .........  341 

E.  R.  Behrend  ........  341 

A.  B.  Daniels  343 

George  A.  Whiting  ........  344 


HISTORY  OF  PAPER-MANUFACTURING 


CHAPTER  ONE 

BUILDING  THE  FIRST  MILLS 

Three  Pioneer  Establishments  in  Pennsylvania — • 
Rittenhouse  and  De  Wees  in  Germantown  and 
WiLLCox  in  Chester  County — William  Bradford, 
THE  Printer,  a  Promoter  of  Paper-Manufactur¬ 
ing — The  Mills  of  Rittenhouse  and  Willcox 
Became  Permanent  and  Successful  Ventures 

WHEN  the  American  pioneers  began  their  voyaging 
across  the  Atlantic  to  settle  in  the  new  world., 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  the  business  of  manufac¬ 
turing  paper,  as  it  is  known  in  modern  times,  had  not 
gained  much  headway  in  those  parts  of  Europe  whence 
they  came.  The  age  of  papyrus  and  parchment  was,  it  is 
true,  practically  at  an  end  after  five  thousand  years  of  his¬ 
tory,  but  paper  from  rags  was  slow  in  coming  into  general 
use  in  place  thereof. 

Rag  paper,  first  known  in  China  about  the  beginning 
of  the  Christian  era,  was  brought  to  Europe  by  the 
Saracens  in  the  eighth  century.  Firmly  established  in 
Spain  the  process  was  there  improved  until,  in  the  tenth 
and  following  centuries,  Spanish  paper  became  justly 
famous.  Gradually  artist  workmen  introduced  their  craft 
into  France,  Italy,  Austria  and  Germany,  and  in  those 
countries  paper-manufacturing  was  common -by  the  four¬ 
teenth  century.  England  and  Holland,  destined  to  become 
great  paper-manufacturing  centers,  were  laggards  in  tak¬ 
ing  hold  of  the  industry  which  was  still  considered  to  be 
very  much  of  a  mystery.  In  England,  as  late  as  1690, 
there  were  few  mills  and  the  total  product  was  less  than 


1 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


£25,000  in  value.  Holland  had  its  first  paper-mill  only  a 
few  years  prior  to  that  date. 

For  other  reasons  also,  paper-making  was  not  an  early 
occupation  of  the  American  colonists.  Clearing  the  wilder¬ 
ness,  trading  with  the  Indians  for  furs,  making  farms,  es¬ 
tablishing  towns  and  villages — these  were  the  tasks  that, 
in  the  beginning,  pressed  most  upon  the  attention  of  the 
settlers.  Their  energies  were,  of  necessity,  directed  to  the 
engrossing  work  of  providing  shelter,  food  and  clothing  for 
themselves,  to  the  exclusion  of  nearly  all  else,  and  primary 
needs  were  for  implements  and  materials  that  should  serve 
such  ends.  To  a  considerable  extent  the  first  pilgrims 
brought  these  things  with  them  and  then,  in  the  imme¬ 
diate  subsequent  years,  continued  to  import  them  from 
the  old  country.  But  Europe  was  too  far  distant  in  the 
days  of  the  slow  sailing  vessel,  and  so,  almost  at  the  out¬ 
set,  arose  the  demand  for  home  industrial  enterprises  of 
the  simplest  sort.  Rivers  furnished  abundant  water  power 
and  as  soon  as  possible  grist  mills,  lumber  mills  and  full¬ 
ing  mills  were  built.  Then  iron  was  discovered  in  Vir¬ 
ginia,  Massachusetts,  New  Jersey  and  elsewhere,  and 
mines  were  opened  and  furnaces  started.  Manufacturing 
in  the  first  colonial  century  was  practically  confined  to 
ship-building  yards,  a  few  rude  iron  furnaces,  potasheries, 
fulling,  grain  and  lumber  mills,  and  tanneries. 

Paper  was  not  as  yet  a  vital  necessity.  Newspapers  did 
not  exist  until  after  1700.  There  were  few  books  except 
those  brought  from  abroad.  A  printing  press  was  set  up 
in  Cambridge,  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay  colony  in  1638, 
and  others  in  Boston,  New  York  and  Philadelphia  before 
the  end  of  the  century ;  but  the  printed  output  was  small, 
less  than  one  thousand  books  and  pamphlets  in  sixty-two 
years,  1639-1700.  Correspondence  was  not  extensive  and 
writing  was  largely  left  to  the  ministers  and  the  officials. 
Our  forefathers  knew  little  of  the  manifold  other  uses  and 
demands  for  paper  that  were  to  arise  in  the  years  to  come. 
Their  needs  were  altogether  easily  supplied  by  importing 
from  England  and  Holland. 

Even  the  starting  of  the  first  paper-mill,  in  1690,  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  a  result  of  any  urgent  call  from  the 

2 


BUILDING  THE  FIRST  MILLS 


community.  Rather  it  came  out  of  the  combination  of  the 
small  needs  of  a  single  printer  in  Philadelphia  and  the  am¬ 
bition  of  a  newly-arrived  German  paper-maker ;  the  printer 
and  the  paper-maker  made  an  ideal  partnership  for  estab¬ 
lishing  an  infant  industry  in  a  field  that  had  not  yet  been 
entered  upon. 

Prior  to  this  time  it  is  probable  that  few,  if  any,  of  the 
new  Americans,  who  were  mostly  from  England  and  Hol¬ 
land,  knew  much  about  paper-making  practically.  France 
and  Germany  were  then  leading  paper-making  countries 
and  neither  the  French  nor  the  Germans  arrived  in  the 
colonies  in  any  considerable  numbers  until  the  late  part  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  Printing  had  grown  to  more  sub¬ 
stantial  business  importance  in  Boston  than  in  any  other 
colonial  center,  but  even  there  the  need  of  a  paper  supply 
independent  of  importation  was  not  seriously  felt ;  nor  does 
it  appear  that  paper-makers  could  have  been  found  to  run 
a  mill  even  if  one  had  been  built. 

The  actual  beginning  of  this  new  enterprise  in  Phila¬ 
delphia  was  in  September,  1690,  when  Robert  Turner, 
William  Bradford,  Thomas  Tresse  and  William  Ritten- 
house  entered  into  an  agreement  with  Samuel  Carpenter 
for  the  lease  of  a  tract  of  land  of  twenty  acres  on  the  banks 
of  the  Wissahickon  creek  for  a  site.  The  mill  was  built 
the  same  year,  but  the  title  to  the  land  was  not  passed 
until  February  12,  1706,  by  which  time  William  Ritten- 
house  had  become  sole  owner.  By  the  terms  of  the  lease, 
for  nine  hundred  and  ninety  years  from  September  29, 
1690,  an  annual  rental  of  “five  shillings  sterling  money  of 
England’’  was  to  be  paid.  The  mill  stood  in  a  little  ravine 
on  the  banks  of  a  stream,  called  Paper-Mill  Run,  that 
emptied  into  the  Wissahickon  creek,  through  Germantown, 
now  a  part  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  about  two  miles 
above  the  junction  of  the  Wissahickon  with  the  Schuylkill 
river. 

Bradford  was  the  moving  spirit  in  this  enterprise.  He 
had  come  from  England  to  Pennsylvania  for  the  express 
purpose  of  setting  up  a  press  in  Philadelphia.  In  London 
he  had  been  a  skillful  printer  and  his  professional  abilities 
and  forceful  personality  made  him  a  man  of  prominence 

3 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


and  influence  in  the  colony  until  a  falling  out  with  the 
authorities  in  1693  led  to  his  removal  to  New  York  where 
he  became  pre-eminently  the  first  famous  American  printer 
and  publisher.  In  1686  he  printed  his  first  book,  Kalen- 
dariuni  P ennsylvaniense .  Once  he  was  started  in  busi¬ 
ness  other  books  and  pamphlets  came  from  his  shop  and 
soon  he  felt  the  inconvenience  of  depending  for  his  print¬ 
ing  upon  such  paper  as  he  could  bring  over  from  Europe. 
His  position  placed  him  in  intimate  association  with  the 
leading  men  of  the  colony  and  no  doubt  his  representations 
were  influential  in  bringing  the  necessary  monetary  sup¬ 
port  to  the  undertaking. 

Samuel  Carpenter  and  Robert  Turner  were  men  of 
wealth,  extensive  land  owners,  and  friends  and  advisers 
of  William  Penn.  Thomas  Tresse  was  a  rich  iron  monger. 

Willem  or  Wilhelm  Ruddinghuysen,  or  Rittinghuysen, 
or  Rittershausen — in  English  William  Rittenhouse — was 
born  in  1644  near  the  city  of  Miilheim  on  the  river  Ruhr, 
in  the  principality  of  Broich  which  lay  between  the  river 
Rhine  and  Westphalia.  It  is  believed  that  he  was  the  son 
of  George  Rittershausen  and  Maria  Hagershoffs.  He  be¬ 
longed  to  a  family  of  distinction,  some  of  whose  members 
were  prominent  in  public  and  professional  life.  Several  of 
his  paternal  ancestors  were  paper-makers  in  Germany  and 
Holland  and  when  he,  in  Amsterdam  in  1678,  took  the 
oath  of  eitizenship  there,  he  subscribed  himself,  “Willem 
Ruddinghuysen,  van  Miilheim,  papermaker.”  At  one  time 
he  was  in  Arnheim,  where  he  probably  followed  his  trade. 
With  his  sons  Nicholas  (Claus)  and  Gerhard  (Garrett), 
and  his  daughter  Elizabeth,  he  came  to  America  and  was 
settled  in  Germantown,  Penn.,  in  1688,  though  he  may 
have  been  in  the  country  before  that  date.  He  was  a  Men- 
nonite,  the  first  minister  of  that  church  in  Germantown, 
and  the  first  Mennonite  bishop  in  America.^ 

In  a  modest  way  the  mill  was  a  success  from  the  start. 
If  it  did  not  indeed  “fill  a  long-felt  want”  it  was  at  least 
promptly  recognized  as  an  interesting  addition  to  the  in¬ 
dustrial  life  of  the  colony.  Several  early  writers  on  Penn- 

’  Daniel  K.  Cassell :  A  Genea-Bio graphical  History  of  the  Rit¬ 
tenhouse  Family,  pp.  47-66. 


4 


BUILDING  THE  FIRST  MILLS 


sylvania  referred  to  it.  Pennsylvania’s  first  poet,  who 
wrote  a  metrical  description  of  the  colony,  thus  sang  of 
the  mill : 

“The  German-Tonm,  of  which  I  spoke  before, 

Which  is,  at  least,  in  length  one  Mile  and  More, 

Where  lives  High-German  People,  and  Low-Dutch, 
Whose  Trade  in  weaving  Linnin  Cloth  is  much. 
There  grows  the  Flax,  as  also  you  may  know. 

That  from  the  same  they  do  divide  the  Tow; 

Their  Trade  fits  well  within  their  Habitation, 

We  find  Conveniences  for  their  Occupation, 

One  Trade  brings  in  imployment  for  another, 

So  that  we  may  suppose  each  trade  a  Brother ; 

From  Linnin  Rags  good  Paper  doth  derive. 

The  First  Trade  keeps  the  second  Trade  alive: 
Without  the  first  the  second  cannot  be. 

Therefore  since  these  two  can  so  well  agree. 
Convenience  doth  approve  to  place  them  nigh. 

One  in  the  German-Tozvu ,  ’tother  hard  by. 

A  Paper  Mill  near  Gcrman-Tozvn  doth  stand. 

So  that  the  Flax,  which  first  springs  from  the  Land, 
First  Flax,  then  Yarn,  and  then  they  must  begin. 

To  weave  the  same,  which  they  took  pains  to  spin. 

Also  when  on  our  backs  it  is  well  worn. 

Some  of  the  same  remains  Ragged  and  Torn; 

Then  of  those  Rags  our  paper  it  is  made. 

Which  in  process  of  time  doth  waste  and  fade ; 

So  what  comes  from  the  Earth,  appeareth  plain. 

The  same  in  Time  returns  to  Earth  again.”  - 

Another  rhyming  historian,  writing  about  1693,  had 
these  lines  about  Bradford  and  the  paper-mill  which  had 
already  become  locally  celebrated  : 

“Here  dwelt  a  Printer,  and,  I  find. 

That  he  can  both  print  books  and  bind ; 

He  wants  not  paper,  ink,  nor  skill. 

He’s  owner  of  a  paper-mill : 

The  paper-mill  is  here,  hard  by. 

And  makes  good  paper  frequently. 

But  the  printer,  as  I  here  tell. 

Is  gone  unto  New  York  to  dwell. 

No  doubt  but  he  will  lay  up  bags 
If  he  can  get  good  store  of  rags. 

*  Richard  Frame:  A  Short  Description  of  Pennsylvania.  Printed 
and  sold  by  William  Bradford  in  Philadelphia,  1692. 

5 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


Kind  friends  when  thy  old  shift  is  rent 
Let  it  to  th’  paper  mill  be  sent.”  •'* 

A  few  years  later  an  Englishman,  writing  in  London 
concerning  Pennsylvania,  informed  his  readers  that  “all 
sorts  of  good  Paper  are  made  in  the  G erma/n-Town”  ^ 

As  the  practical  man  who  alone  was  able  to  make  the 
mill  a  success,  William  Rittenhouse  ultimately  became  the 
sole  owner.  Turner  disposed  of  his  quarter  interest  in 
1697,  Tresse  in  1701  and  Bradford  in  1704.  Bradford  de¬ 
pended  upon  the  mill  even  after  the  removal  of  his  print¬ 
ing  business  to  New  York;  in  1697  he  rented  his  part  of 
the  property  to  the  Rittenhouses  upon  these  terms : 

“That  they  the  sd.  W""-  and  Clause  Rittenhouse  shall 
pay  and  deliver  to  sd.  William  Bradford,  his  Executors 
or  assigns  or  their  order  in  Philadelphia  y'  full  quan¬ 
tity  of  .Seven  Ream  of  printing  paper.  Two  Ream  of 
good  writing  paper  and  two  Ream  of  blue  paper, 
yearly  and  every  year  during  y'  sd.  Term  of  Ten 

years . Also  it  is  further  Covenanted 

That  during  y'  sd.  Ten  years  y'  sd.  William  and  Clause 
Rittenhouse  shall  lett  y'  said  W"-  Bradford  his  Execu¬ 
tors  or  Assigns  have  y'  refusal  of  all  y'  printing  paper 
that  they  make  and  he  shall  take  y^  same  at  Ten  shill¬ 
ings  pr.  Ream,  As  also  y'  sd.  Bradford  shall  have  y* 
refusal  of  five  Ream  of  writing  paper  and  Thirty  Ream 
of  brown  paper  yearly  and  every  year  during  y'  sd. 
Term  of  Ten  years,  y°  writing  paper  to  be  at  20"  and  y” 
brown  paper  at  6"  pr.  Ream.”  ° 

From  this  it  is  evident  that  Bradford  was  to  receive 
annually,  for  his  share  of  the  mill,  paper  valued  at  £6  2s, 
that  is,  £61  for  the  term  of  ten  years.  In  addition  he  also 
had  a  monopoly  of  the  total  product  of  the  mill,  which  was 
actually  all  the  paper  made  in  the  colonies,  from  Septem¬ 
ber,  1697,  to  September,  1707. 

In  1701  a  freshet  overran  the  banks  of  the  Wissahickon 


’John  Holme:  A  True  Relation  of  the  Flourishing  State  of 
Pennsylvania.  Printed  in  the  Bulletin  [Proceedings]  of  the  Penn¬ 
sylvania  Historical  Society,  I.,  No.  13,  December,  1^7,  p.  172. 

‘Gabriel  Thomas:  An  Historical  and  Geographical  Account  of 
the  Province  and  County  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey  in 
America.  London,  1698. 

’  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography,  XX.,  pp.  323-4. 

6 


The  Third  Rittenhouse  Paper-Mtu,,  Built  Prior  to  1770. 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


and  the  paper-mill  was  swept  away.  The  biographer  of 
David  Rittenhouse  wrote  regarding  this  that  he  had  seen : 

“A  paper  in  the  handwriting  of  William  Penn,  and 
subscribed  with  his  name,  certifying  that  ‘William  Rit- 
tinghousen  and  Clans  his  son,’  then  ‘part  owners  of  the 
paper-mill  near  Germantown,’  had  recently  sustained 
a  very  great  loss  by  a  violent  and  sudden  flood,  which 
carried  away  the  said  mill,  with  a  considerable  quantity 
of  paper,  materials  and  tools,  with  other  things  therein, 
whereby  they  were  reduced  to  great  distress ;  and 
therefore,  recommending  to  such  persons  as  should  be 
disposed  to  lend  them  aid,  to  give  the  sufferers,  ‘relief 
and  encouragement,  in  their  needful  and  commendable 
employment’  as  they  were  ‘desirous  to  set  up  the  paper- 
mill  again.’  ”  “ 

In  the  following  year  a  new  mill  was  built  a  short  dis¬ 
tance  from  the  site  of  the  old  one.  At  that  time  there  was 
correspondence  between  Rittenhouse  and  Bradford  con¬ 
cerning  the  transfer  of  the  interest  which  the  latter  still 
held  in  the  property,  ai.d  in  one  of  the  letters  the  value  of 
the  materials  saved  from  the  wreck — lumber,  iron  and 
press — was  stated  at  £15,  2s,  4d. 

In  1706  William  Rittenhouse  deeded  to  his  eldest  son. 
Claus,  a  three-quarters  interest  in  the  mill  and  when  he 
died  intestate  in  1708  the  remaining  quarter  went  to  the 
same  son.  Claus  Rittenhouse,  who  thus  succeeded  his 
father  and  became  the  second  paper-mill  proprietor  in  the 
colonies,  was  born  in  Holland  in  1666,  and  died  in  German¬ 
town  in  1734.  He  continued  to  make  writing,  printing, 
brown  and  blue  papers  and  pasteboard,  supplying  Brad¬ 
ford  in  New  York  and  the  home  market  in  Germantown 
and  Philadelphia.  Upon  his  death  the  mill  became  the 
imoperty  of  his  eldest  son,  William,  whose  brother 
Matthias  carried  on  the  manufacturing  there  until  1730. 
In  subsequent  generations  the  building  was  reconstructed 
in  whole  or  in  part  several  times,  but  continued  to  be  used 
as  a  paper-mill.  Finally,  however,  it  was  converted  into 
a  cotton-mill.  Later  the  site  was  incorporated  in  Phila¬ 
delphia’s  great  Fairniount  park. 

Barton:  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  David  Rittenhouse, 

p.  W. 


8 


BUILDING  THE  FIRST  MILLS 


In  a  later  generation  a  third  mill  was  built  farther  down 
on  Paper  Mill  Run  by  the  third  William  Rittenhouse.  This 
building'  remained  standing  nearly  to  the  close  of  the  nine¬ 
teenth  century.  Other  mills  were  erected  in  the  vicinity, 
one  on  Paper  Mill  Run,  and  two  on  the  Wissahickon 
creek,  all  operated  by  members  of  the  Rittenhouse  family. 

Neither  the  capacity  of  this  mill  nor  the  quantity  of 
paper  actually  produced  is  known.  All  was  handwork  and 
each  sheet  was  made  separately.  Several  days  were  re¬ 
quired  for  the  finishing  of  a  sheet  of  dry  perfected  paper. 

“A  day’s  work  for  three  men  was  four  and  a  half 
reams  of  newspaper  20  x  30.  So  that  there  might  have 
been  made  annually  at  the  Rittenhouse  mill  from  1,200 
to  1,500  i’eams  of  paper  of  all  kinds  but  this  is  mere 
conjecture.  Small  as  was  its  capacity,  it  was  all  im¬ 
portant  to  the  community  at  large,  for  the  home  supply 
of  Pennsylvania  was  dependent  upon  it.” 


Most  if  not  all  the  paper  made  in  the  Rittenhouse  mil! 
was  water-marked.  The  first  water-mark  used  was  the 
single  word  “Company.”  The  second  was  a  double;  on 
one-half  the  sheet  was  the  monogram  WR  and  on  the  other 
half  a  shield,  surmounted  by  a  fleur-de-lis  crest  and  bear¬ 
ing  on  its  face  a  clover  leaf — which  was  the  town  seal  of 


Gerinantown- 


Early  Water  Mark  of  the 
Rittenhouse  Paper. 


and  beneath  this  the  word  “Pensilvania” 
in  black  letters.  Another  mark 
was  K  R,  the  initials  of  Klaas 
(Claus)  Rittenhouse,  and  later 
was  I  R  for  Jacob  Rittenhouse, 
grandson  of  the  founder.  These 
marks  are  on  correspondence 
sheets,  books  and  newspapers 
of  the  first  half  of  the  eight¬ 
eenth  century  and  later.  Will¬ 
iam  Bradford  for  his  New 
York  Gazette,  established  in 
November,  1725;  and  Andrew 
Bradford,  his  son,  for  his 


’’  Horatio  Gates  Jones :  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Rittenhouse 
Paper-Mill ;  in  The  Pennsylvania  Magacine  of  History  and  Biog¬ 
raphy,  XX.,  p.  325. 


9 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


American  Weekly  Mercury,  of  Philadelphia,  established 
in  December,  1719,  the  third  newspaper  in  the  American 
colonies,  used  Rittenhouse  paper  thus  water-marked. 

The  second  paper-mill  in  the  colonies  was  a  direct  out¬ 
growth  of  the  Rittenhouse  mill.  It  was  built  in  1710,  by 
William  De  Wees,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Wissahickon 
creek,  in  that  part  of  Germantown  then  known  as  Crefield, 
not  far  from  the  Rittenhouse  mill.  William  De  Wees  was 
a  native  of  Holland,  where  he  was  born  in  1677.  He  was 
brought  to  New  York  by  his  parents,  Garrett  Hendrick 
and  Zytian  De  Wees,  in  1688.  His  sister,  Wilhelmina  De 
Wees,  in  1689,  in  the  Reformed  Church  of  New  York, 
was  married  to  Nicholas  Rittenhuysen,  who  was  then  en¬ 
tered  in  the  records  as  “a  young  man  of  Arnheim,  living 
on  the  Delaware  river.”  *  This  marriage  was  followed  by 
the  moving  of  the  De  Wees  family  to  Germantown  where 
William  became  an  apprentice  in  the  paper-mill  of  his 
brother-in-law’s  father,  probably  remaining  there  until  he 
started  his  own  mill.  In  1713  he  sold  his  mill,  with  a  hun¬ 
dred  acres  of  land,  to  Abraham  Tunis,  William  Streeper, 
Claus  Ruttinghuvsen  and  John  Gorgas  for  £145.  In  1729 
he  entered  into  a  business  agre  ment  with  Henry  Antes, 
his  son-in-law,  the  two  to  run  a  combination  grist  and 
paper-mill.  This  mill  was  also  located  in  Germantown. 

An  indenture  of  February  20,  1731,  describes  the  land 
purchased  by  De  Wees  in  Crefield,  in  March,  1729,  and 
the  two  bolting  mills  and  mill  house  “built  and  erected, 
found  and  provided,  at  the  joint  and  equal  cost  and  charge 
of  William  De  Wees  and  Henry  Antes.”  The  digging  and 
making  of  the  dams  of  the  mill  race  and  the  providing  and 
putting  in  the  gears  of  the  paper-mill  were  at  the  charge 
of  De  Wees.  For  the  money  and  labor  expended  by  Antes 
and  cash  £25,  a  one-half  interest  in  the  mills  and  ground 
was  conveyed  to  him.  It  was  also  provided  that  the  paper- 
mill  should  be  served  only  by  the  over-plus  of  water  after 
the  needs  of  the  grist  mills  had  been  first  met.® 

William  De  Wees  parted  with  his  mill  before  he  died 

'New  York  (j'eiicolof^ical  and  Biograt’lncal  Record,  X.,  p.  131. 

'Deed  Book  F,  .4  p.  197,  Pliiladelphia  Recorder’s  Office. 

10 


BUILDING  THE  FIRST  MILLS 


in  1745.  Llis  will,  of  November  22,  1744,  did  not  mention 
it  specifically  although  he  bequeathed  to  his  son  Garrett 
his  “dwelling  house,  grist-mill,  land  and  plantation  situate 
in  Germantown  with  the  buildings.”  But  his  son,  Henry 
De  Wees,  succeeded  him  as  a  paper-maker.  On  a  Phila¬ 
delphia  map  of  1746,  “Hy  De  Wees’  Paper-mill”  is  located 
at  that  place.  During  the  revolution  Henry  De  Wees  made 
cartridge  paper  for  the  continental  army. 

The  first  historian  of  American  printing  wrote  that,  as 
early  as  1728,  William  De  Wees  and  John  Gorgas  had  a 
mill  on  the  Wissahickon  where  “they  manufactured  an 
imitation  of  asses-skin  paper  for  memorandum  books, 
which  was  well  executed.”  In  support  of  this  statement 
it  was  added  that : 

“John  Brighter,  an  aged  paper-maker,  who  con¬ 
ducted  a  mill  for  more  than  half  a  century  in  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  and  who  gave  this  account,  observed  that 
this  kind  of  paper  was  made  of  rotten  stone,  which 
is  found  in  several  places  near  and  to  the  northward 
of  Philadelphia,  and  that  the  method  of  cleaning  this 
paper  was  to  throw  it  into  the  fire  for  a  short  time 
when  it  was  taken  out  perfectly  fair.” 

This  description  would  seem  to  indicate  an  asbestos 
jjaper. 

The  same  authority  says  that  William  De  Wees,  Jr., 
operated  a  paper-mill  on  the  Wissahickon  in  1736.’^^  But 
there  is  no  record  of  this  in  the  history  of  the  family, 
which,  on  the  contrary'  says  that  comparatively  little  is 
known  about  the  younger  William  De  Wees.^^ 

Nearly  forty  years  elapsed  before  the  third  Pennsylvania 
paper-mill  came  into  existence.  This  was  in  the  township 
of  Concord,  twenty  miles  from  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  on 
the  west  branch  of  the  Chester  creek  in  that  part  of 
Chester  county  which  afterward  was  Delaware  county. 
Thomas  Willcox,  an  Englishman,  came  to  Concord  in 
1725,  or  earlier  perhaps.  In  1726  he  and  Thomas  Brown 
built  a  mill-dam  on  the  west  branch,  leasing  land  for  the 

Isaiah  Thomas :  The  History  of  Printing  in  America,  I.,  p.  53. 

”  Isaiah  Thomas:  The  History  of  Printing  in  America,  I.,  p.  24, 
Mrs.  Philip  E.  La  Munyan :  The  De  Wees  Family. 

11 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


purpose  on  agreement  to  pay  “yearly  &  for  every  year  ye 
sum  of  one  shilling  of  current  lawful  money  of  this  prov¬ 
ince.”  On  this  land,  in  August,  1729,  he  built  a  paper- 
mill  and  entered  into  a  partnership  with  Brown  to  make 
and  sell  paper.  He  had  learned  paper-making  before  com¬ 
ing  to  America  and  the  arrangement  was  that  he  should 
receive  three-fifths  of  the  profits  of  the  joint  undertaking 
in  consideration  of  instructing  Brown  who,  evidently  knew 
nothing  about  the  business. 


The  Willcox  Ivy  Mill,  1729. 

Reproduced  from  Ashmead’s  History  of  Delaware  County,  Penn. 


Little  is  known  of  the  history  of  this  mill  during  its 
first  fifty  years.  The  value  placed  upon  the  property  is 
indicated  liy  the  fact  that,  in  the  beginning.  Brown  paid 
to  Willcox  £150  for  his  half  interest,  and  that  when  he 
retired  from  active  participation  in  the  business,  in  1732, 
he  leased  to  Willcox  his  half  interest  in  the  land,  mill  and 
equipment,  for  a  term  of  seven  years,  at  a  yearly  rental  of 
£13.  Subsequently  he  reconveyed  his  interest  to  "Willcox 
who  thus  became  the  sole  owner.  This  and  other  adja- 


12 


BUILDING  THE  FIRST  MILLS 


cent  property  has  remained  in  possession  of  descendants 
of  Thomas  Willcox  to  the  present  day.’^® 

When  Thomas  Willcox  died,  in  1772,  he  was  succeeded 
by  his  son,  Mark,  who  had,  in  fact,  been  the  pactical 
operator  of  the  mill  for  some  years  previous.  Mark  Will¬ 
cox  retained  ownership  until  his  death,  but,  after  1808,  he 
had  his  sons  associated  with  him,  the  last  surviving  one  in¬ 
heriting  the  property  and  continuing  the  business  until 
1854.  Attention  has  been  called  to  the  remarkable  fact 
that  at  the  time  of  the  death  of  Mark  Willcox,  in  1827 : 


“Two  men,  of  two  generations,  father  and  son,  had 
conducted  the  mill  ninety-eight  years.  The  ponder¬ 
ous  macjhinery,  however,  of  modern  mills,  silenced  it 
long  ago,  but  it  still  stands  [1884]  a  silent  relic  of  its 
early  time.  Its  wheel  has  long  since  decayed ;  its 
stone  gable  is  thickly  covered  with  the  venerable  ivy- 
vine  whose  root  came  over  the  ocean,  in  1718,  from 
near  the  old  Ivy  Bridge  in  Devonshire.” 


The  first  output  of  the  \A411cox  mill  is  said  to  have  been 
fullers'  press  board.  Later,  printing  paper  was  made, 
some  of  it  for  Benjamin  Franklin,  who  became  a  close 
friend  of  Willcox  and  much  interested  in  his  undertaking. 

After  1775  the  mill  was  devoted 
almost  entirely  to  making  gov¬ 
ernment  paper  for  the  conti¬ 
nental  bills,  loan  certificates 
and  bills  of  exchange.  Ulti¬ 
mately,  its  product  was  prin¬ 
cipally  banknote  paper  for  the 
United  States  and  various  in¬ 
dividual  states,  banks,  foreign 
countries  and  private  individ¬ 
uals.  At  the  time  of  the 
revolution  and  before,  the  government  authorities  de¬ 
pended  entirely  upon  this  mill  for  paper  for  currency  pur¬ 
poses  and  placed  implicit  confidence  in  it. 


Water  Mark  of  the  Will¬ 
cox  Ivy  Mills  Parer. 
Reproduced  from  Joseph  Will- 
cox’s  Ivy  Mills,  1729-1866. 


"Joseph  Willcox:  The  Ivy  Mills,  1729-1866. 

"Henry  Graham  Ashmead :  History  of  Delaware  County,  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  p.  494. 


13 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


“When  the  old  Colonies,  much  more  than  a  century 
ago,  found  themselves  obliged  to  issue  paper  money, 
the  currency  paper  used  by  all  of  them  was  manufac¬ 
tured  by  Thomas  Willcox,  at  Ivy  Mills,  and  mostly 
printed  in  Philadelphia.  No  other  currency  paper 
was  used  upon  the  continent  than  that  made  at  the 
old  Ivy  Mills.  Many  years  later,  in  the  necessities  of 
the  newly  confederated  states,  the  paper  for  all  the 
continental  currency  was  supplied  from  the  same  es¬ 
tablishment.  There  was  no  other  possessing  experi¬ 
ence  in  the  manufacture,  and  during  the  revolution¬ 
ary  war,  paper  could  not  be  imported.  Again,  in  the 
war  of  1812,  the  government  was  obliged  to  issue 
paper  money,  and  again  recourse  was  had  to  the  old 
Ivy  Mill  to  supply  its  necessities.” 


“John  Hill  Martin:  History  of  Chester  and  Its  Vicinity,  p.  233. 


14 


CHAPTER  TWO 

OTHER  MILLS  OF  THE  COLONIES 


A  Second  Venture  is  Made  by  Bradford  the  Printer — 
First  Mills  are  Established  in  Massachusetts, 
Maine,  Connecticut,  New  York  and  Elsewhere — 
Ti-ie  Mills  of  the  Ephrata  German  Community 
in  Pennsylvania — Saur,  Famous  Printer  of  the 
First  German  Bible,  Also  Builds  a  Mill 

AS  has  already  been  shown  in  the  preceding  chapter 
three  small  mills  alone  represented  the  infant  in¬ 
dustry  of  paper-making  until  well  into  the  second  quart¬ 
er  of  the  eighteenth  century.  A  growing  need  for  paper 
existed,  such  as  even  importation  was  not  able  adequately 
to  supply ;  but  conditions  were  unfavorable  to  expansion  of 
the  business.  Skilled  workmen  were  scarce  and  rags  were 
more  scarce;  it  was  difficult  to  procure  even  the  simple 
tools  needed,  such  as  vats,  presses  and  moulds,  and  they 
were  expensive ;  the  domestic  market  for  paper  was  irreg¬ 
ular,  and  altogether  the  cost  of  production  was  relatively 
so  high  that  a  better  quality  of  imported  paper  could  be 
sold  for  no  more  than  that  of  domestic  make.  The  in¬ 
dustry,  such  as  it  was,  continued  to  be  merely  local,  re¬ 
sponsive  to  and  meeting  local  demands  almost  entirely, 
principally  those  of  printers  like  the  Bradfords  and  others. 

William  Bradford  could  never  divest  himself  of  the 
desire  to  own  and  operate  a  paper-mill  as  an  adjunct  to  his 
press.  He  was  one  of  the  most  energetic  men  of  his  time 
in  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  shrewd,  calculating,  re¬ 
sourceful  and  dominating.  Had  he  been  of  1900  instead 
of  1700  he  would  have  shone  pre-eminently  as  one  of  our 

15 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


modern  hustlers.  Within  three  months  after  his  arrival 
in  Philadelphia  he  had  set  up  his  press  and  printed  an 
almanac,  a  big  achievement  for  that  time  aiid  under  the 
conditions  then  prevailing.  Instrumental  in  having  the 
first  American  paper-mill  built,  partly  to  supply  the  needs 
of  his  printing  establishment  in  Philadelphia,  and  in  secur¬ 
ing  to  himself  a  monopoly  of  the  output  of  that  mill,  even 
after  he  had  removed  to  New  York  city,  his  hunger  for 
paper  was  only  measurably  appeased.  Aside  from  the 
general  need  for  writing  paper,  the  press  of  his  son, 
Andrew  Bradford — who  began  printing  in  Philadelphia 
in  1710  and  there  started  The  American  Weekly  Mercury 
— added  to  the  demand  upon  the  limited  domestic  supply ; 
both  father  and  son  continued  to  use  all  the  paper  that 
they  could  draw  from  Rittenhouse  and  De  Wees  but  that 
was  far  from  sufficient. 

So  it  came  about  that,  in  1724,  he  conceived  the  idea  of 
securing  a  concession  from  the  New  York  authorities,  for 
starting  a  mill  in  that  colony.  On  July  6  of  that  year  he 
petitioned  the  general  assembly  “to  admit  him  to  bring  in 
a  bill  to  entitle  him  to  the  sole  making  of  paper  in  the 
province.”  The  bill  was  introduced  and  finally  passed  on 
July  14,  when  the  assembly  “ordered  that  Mr.  Jansen  do 
carry  the  Bill  to  the  Council  and  desire  their  concurrence 
thereto.”^®  In  the  council  the  proposed  measure  received 
short  shrift,  for  the  governor  was  not  inclined  to  encour¬ 
age  any  new  colonial  manufacturing  if  he  could  avoid  it. 
The  records  state  that,  on  July  16,  this  message  was  re¬ 
ceived  by  the  council : 

“from  the  Assembly  by  Mr.  Jansen  dated  the  14th 
Instant  with  the  Bill  entituled.  An  Act  to  Encourage 
William  Bradford  and  his  Assignes  to  make  Paper 
and  to  prohibit  all  other  persons  from  making  the 
same  in  this  Province  during  the  space  of  fifteen  years 
and  Desiring  the  Concurrence  of  this  Board  thereto.” 

The  bill  was  read  the  first  time  and  ordered  to  a  second 
reading.  At  the  next  meeting  of  the  council,  July  18,  the 
bill  was  read  the  second  time,  referred  to  a  committee,  re- 

"  Journal  of  the  Votes  and  Proceedings  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Colony  of  New  York,  I.,  pp.  508-510. 


16 


OTHER  MILLS  OF  THE  COLONIES 


ported  back  and  then,  “The  question  being  put,  Whether 
the  said  bill  be  read  the  Third  time?  It  was  carryed  in  the 
negative.’’*'  Such  seems  to  have  been  the  end  of  the  first 
attempt  to  start  a  paper-mill  in  that  colony. 

However,  a  few  years  after,  Bradford  succeeded  in  hav¬ 
ing  a  mill,  this  time  in  Elizabethtown,  N.  J.  By  whom  and 
when  the  mill  was  built  and  by  whom  first  managed  is  not 
known. It  is  said  that  Bradford  bought  it  in  1728  in 
order  to  supply  his  newspaper,  The  New  York  Gazette, 
started  in  1725,  and  that  of  his  son,  Andrew  Bradford,  in 
Philadelphia,  the  mill  being  very  conveniently  located  be¬ 
tween  the  two  cities.  How  long  he  owned  this  mill  can¬ 
not  be  said.  That  it  was  held  by  him  in  1729  and  was  in 
existence  as  Ihte  as  1735  is  shown  by  two  newspaper  ad¬ 
vertisements  of  those  dates : 

“An  Indented  Servant  Man,  named  James  Roberts, 
is  Run  away  from  William  Bradford’s  Paper-Mill  at 
Elizabeth  Town  in  New  Jersey.  .  .  .  He  is  a 

West-Country-man,  has  been  about  one  year  in  the 
Country,  and  is  a  Paper-maker  by  Trade. 

“On  Wednesday,  the  23  of  April  next,  at  the  Paper- 
Mill  in  Elizabeth-Town,  there  will  be  sold  at  Publick 
Vendue  to  the  highest  Bidder,  all  sorts  of  Household 
Goods,  Cattle,  Horses,  Hogs,  Cart,  Plows,  Harrows 
with  Iron  Teeth,  and  other  Utinsels :  The  Plantation 
adjoining  to  the  said  Mill  will  also  be  sold.  .  . 

Between  1639 — when  the  first  press  was  set  up  in  Cam¬ 
bridge,  Mass. — and  1728,  there  were  thirty-five  or  pos¬ 
sibly  thirty-seven  printers  in  the  colonies,  twenty-three  of 
whom  were  in  Boston,  nine  in  Philadelphia  and  two  in 
New  York.  The  output  in  those  years  was  three  thousand 
and  sixty-seven  books,  pamphlets  and  broadsides.®^  There 
were  also  six  newspapers,  all  published  weekly  :  The  Boston 
News-Letter,  The  Boston  Gazette,  The  American  Weekh 
Mercury  of  Philadelphia,  The  New-England  Courant  of 

"Journal  of  the  Legislative  Council  of  the  Colony  of  New  York 
pp.  512-514. 

“Edwin  F.  Hatfield:  History  of  Elizabeth,  N.  J.,  p.  324. 

“  The  American  Weekly  Mercury,  Philadelphia,  July  3  and  10, 
1729. 

^  The  New  York  Gazette,  April  7,  1735. 

"Charles  Evans:  American  Bibliography. 

17 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


Boston,  The  Netv  York  Gasette,  and  The  N ezv-England 
IVeekly  Journal  of  Boston,  d'hese  had  been  in  existence 
from  one  to  twenty-four  years,  the  oldest,  The  ISoston 
N etvs-Letter,  having  been  established  in  1704.  The  num¬ 
ber  of  weekly  issues  of  these  newsjjapers  prior  to  1728 
was  about  three  thousand,  making,  with  the  books,  pamph¬ 
lets  and  broadsides,  nearly  eight  thousand  as  the  total  num¬ 
ber  of  imprints.  The  editions  were  not  large  in  any  in¬ 
stance,  never,  at  the  most,  exceeding  a  few  thousand 
copies,  or  of  the  pamphlets,  probably  only  a  few  hundred. 

Considering  now  the  first  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  cen¬ 
tury,  the  printers  of  Boston  outnumbered  those  of  the  rest 
of  the  country  two  to  one ;  four  of  the  six  American  news¬ 
papers  were  published  in  Boston ;  two-thirds  of  the  books 
and  pamphlets  of  the  period  bore  a  Boston  imprint.  East¬ 
ern  Massachusetts  was  easily  the  literary  and  typographic 
center.  Yet,  despite  these  facts,  there  was  no  paper-mill 
in  this  locality  until  after  1728.  Why  Philadelphia  should 
have  established  this  industry  so  far  in  advance  of  Boston, 
which  would  seem  to  have  been  earlier  in  need  of  it,  is  not 
clear.  Perhaps  the  individual  activity  of  William  Brad¬ 
ford  may  have  had  much  to  do  with  that.  Also  the  com¬ 
mercial  connection  of  Boston  with  England  was  so  inti¬ 
mate  and  well  developed  that  importation  was  not  inade¬ 
quate  to  the  domestic  needs.  Whatsoever  may  have  been 
the  reason,  however,  there  were  three  mills  in  Pennsylvania 
and  one  in  New  Jersey  before  the  first  in  New  England. 

Starting  a  paper-mill  in  those  days  was  a  serious  affair. 
Even  though  the  contemplated  mill  might  be  ever  so  in¬ 
significantly  small  and  unimportant  an  ambitious  man 
could  not  go  out  and  invest  his  capital  in  site,  water-power 
and  building  and  proceed  to  work  unrestrainedly.  Paper¬ 
making  was  regarded  as  a  sort  of  public  utility — as  indeed 
were  other  manufacturing  industries — and  it  came  under 
the  watchful  supervision  of  the  public  service  commissions 
or  trade  commissions  of  that  time,  that  is  the  great  and 
general  court,  or  the  assembly,  or  the  governor  and  coun¬ 
cil,  as  the  authority  might  be  in  different  colonies.  Per¬ 
mission  to  engage  in  the  business  was  a  prerogative  of  the 
government  and  a  monopoly,  for  an  indicated  term  of 

18 


OTHER  MILLS  OF  THE  COLONIES 


years,  was  asked  for  and  generally  included,  if  the  per¬ 
mission  was  accorded  at  all.  The  grant  was  a  ponderous, 
impressive  document,  elaborate  with  specifications  and  re¬ 
quirements.  Such  was  the  charter  granted,  upon  petition, 
to  several  substantial  citizens  of  Boston,  in  1728,  by  the 
great  and  general  court  of  the  province  of  the  Massa¬ 
chusetts  Bay.  The  measure,  passed  on  September  13  of 
that  year,  reads  as  follows  in  the  legislative  records : 

An  Act  for  the  Encouragement  of  Making  Paper. 

Whereas  the  Making  Paper  zeithin  this 
VV  Proznnce  zvill  be  of  Public  Benefit  and 
Service;  But  inasmuch  as  the  Erecting  Mills  for  that 
purpose  qnd  providing  Workmen  and  Materials  for 
the  Effecting  that  Undertaking  zvill  necessarily  de¬ 
mand  a  considerable  Disburse  of  Money  for  some 
time  before  any  profit,  or  gain  can  arise  there-from ; 
And  zvhereas  Daniel  Henchman,  Gillam  Phillips,  Ben¬ 
jamin  Faneuil  and  Thomas  Hancock,  together  zvith 
Henry  Dering,  are  zuilling  &  desirous  to  Undertake 
the  Manufacturing  Paper;  Wherefore,  for  the  Pro¬ 
moting  so  beneficial  a  Design ; 

“Be  it  Enacted  by  His  Excellency  the  Governour, 
Council  and  Representatives  in  General  Court  Assem¬ 
bled,  and  by  the  Authority  of  the  same.  That  the  sole 
Privilege  and  Benefit  of  making  Paper  within  this 
Province  shall  be  to  the  said  Daniel  Henchman, 
Gillam  Phillips,  Benjamin  Faneuil,  Thomas  Hancock 
and  Henry  Dering,  and  to  their  Associates,  for  and 
during  the  Term  of  Ten  Years  from  and  after  the 
Tenth  Day  of  December  next  ensuing:  provided  the 
aforesaid  Daniel  Henchman,  Gillam  Phillips,  Benja¬ 
min  Faneuil,  Thomas  Hancock  and  Henry  Dering, 
shall  make  or  cause  to  be  made  within  this  Province, 
in  the  space  of  Twelve  Months  next  after  the  Tenth 
Day  of  December,  next.  Two  hundred  Rheam  of 
good  Merchantable  Brown  Paper,  and  Printing 
Paper,  Sixty  Rheam  thereof  at  least  to  be  Printing 
Paper,  and  within  the  space  of  Twelve  Months  then 
next  coming,  shall  cause  to  be  made  within  this  Prov¬ 
ince  Fifty  Rheam  of  good  Merchantable  Writing 
Paper,  of  equal  goodness  with  the  Paper  commonly 
stampt  with  the  London  arms,  over  and  above  the 
aforesaid  Two  hundred  Rheam  of  Brown  Paper,  and 
Printing  Paper. 

“AND  further.  That  the  aforesaid  Daniel  Hench- 
19 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


man,  Gillam  Phillips,  Benjamin  Faneuil,  and  Thomas 
Hancock,  together  with  Henry  Bering,  proceed  and 
make  Twenty-five  Rheam  of  finer  &  better  Writing 
Paper  in  this  Province,  as  aforesaid,  at  or  before  the 
Tenth  Day  of  December,  which  will  be  in  the  Year  of 
Our  Lord  One  thousand  seven  hundred  &  thirty-one 
and  continue  to  make  the  Quantities  and  Species  of 
paper  before  Enumerated  in  the  aforesaid  Two  Years, 
and  that  they  make  or  cause  to  be  made  within  the 
space  of  Twelve  Months,  from  and  after  the  said 
Tenth  of  December  1731.  Five  hundred  Rheam  of 
good  Merchantable  Writing  and  Printing  Paper,  One 


One  of  tlie  Proprietors  of  tlie  First  Massachusetts  Paper-Mill. 


Reproduced  from  Oliver  A.  Roberts’  History  of  the  Military  Co.  of 
the  Massachusetts, 


20 


OTHER  MILLS  OF  THE  COLONIES 


hundred  and  fifty  Rheani  thereof  at  least  to  be  Writ¬ 
ing  Paper,  and  continue  to  make  the  like  Quantity  of 
Five  hundred  Rheam,  as  aforesaid,  every  Year,  for 
and  during  the  remaining  part  of  the  said  Ten  Years; 
and  if  any  person  or  persons  shall  make  any  Paper 
within  this  Province,  without  leave  first  had  and  ob¬ 
tained  from  the  said  Daniel  Henchman,  Gillam  Phil¬ 
lips,  Benjamin  Faneiiil,  Thomas  Hancock  and  Henry 
Dering,  he  or  they  so  making  the  same  shall  pay 
Twenty  Shillings  for  every  Rheam  of  Paper  Manu¬ 
factured  in  this  Province,  as  aforesaid;  One  half  of 
the  said  Twenty  Shillings  to  be  to  and  for  the  Under¬ 
takers  Daniel  Henchman,  Gillam  Phillips,  Benjamin 
Faneuil,  Thomas  Hancock  and  Henry  Dering,  and 
their  Associates ;  the  other  half  to  the  use  of  the  Poor 
of  the  Town  where  the  Paper  shall  be  exposed  to 
Sale,  or  brought  and  found,  to  be  recovered  by  the 
said  Undertakers,  by  Bill,  Plaint  or  Information  in 
any  of  His  Majesties  Courts  of  Record  within  the 
County,  where  the  offence  shall  be  committed,  or  be¬ 
fore  any  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  the  same  County, 
where .  the  forfeiture  shall  not  exceed  Forty  Shil- 
lings.”^- 

This  company  of  paper-makers,  who  thus  initiated  the 
business  in  the  Massachusetts  colony,  was  a  sort  of 
family  afifair.  Daniel  Ilenclnnan,  the  senior  promoter,  was 
a  rich  man,  a  l)f)ok-binder,  publisher  and  i)ookseller  of 
Boston,  and  Thomas  Hancock  was  his  son-in-law. 
Hancock  was  also  a  bookseller  and  a  stationer,  becom¬ 
ing  one  of  Boston’s  wealthiest  merchants;  and  he  was 
the  uncle  of  the  more  famous  John  Hancock  of  the  revo¬ 
lution  period.  Benjamin  Faneuil  was  the  father  of 
the  celebrated  Peter  bMueuil.  Gillam  Phillips  was  a  son- 
in-law  of  the  elder  Faneuil.  Henry  Dering  was  the 
superintendent  and  agent. 

More  than  twenty  years  before,  a  mill  with  raceway  had 
been  built  on  the  Milton  side  of  the  Neponset  river,  seven 
or  eight  miles  from  Boston.  This  was  now  leased  by 
Henchman  and  his  associates  who  also  erected  a  house  for 
their  workmen,  the  upper  story  of  which  was  left  as  an 

“Chapter  XV  of  the  Acts  and  Laws  passed  by  the  Great  and 
General  Court  in  1728.  Acts  and  Resolves  of  the  Province  of  the 
Massachusetts  Bay,  TI.,  p.  518. 


21 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


open  loft  for  drying  the  paper  by  exposure  to  the  air.  The 
business  was  slow  in  being  fully  started.  From  the  be¬ 
ginning  difficulty  was  experienced  in  securing  capable 
workmen  and  work  was  carried  on  only  in  a  small  and 
rather  desultory  way  for  several  years.  In  1731  Hench¬ 
man  exhibited  to  the  great  and  general  court  in  Boston  a 
sample  sheet  of  paper  made  there,  but  the  mill  was  prob¬ 
ably  productive  before  that  date.  Soon  it  became  such  a 
local  institution  that  it  was  alluded  to  in  the  letters  and  the 
newspapers  of  the  time.  One  Boston  newspaper  in  1733 
made  incidental  reference  to  it  in  a  rhymed  advertisement. 


Thomas  Hancock. 

Part  Proprietor  of  the  First  Paper-Mill  in  Massachusetts. 
From  an  engraving  after  the  Copley  portrait  in  Memorial  Hall, 
Harvard  University. 


22 


OTHER  MILLS  OF  THE  COLONIES 


“In  Milton,  near  the  Paper  Mill, 

A  new  built  house  to  rent : 

Ask  of  the  Printer  and  you  will 
Know  further  to  content.” 

Henchman  first  employed  Henry  Woodman,  an  English¬ 
man,  as  foreman.  After  a  few  years  of  unsuccess,  Bering 
and  Woodman  retired.  Jeremiah  Smith  was  then  engaged 
to  take  charge  and  finally  he  became  the  sole  owner,  pur¬ 
chasing  the  leased  mill  and  adjoining  land  in  1741.  To 
assist  him  he  procured  Abijah  Smith,  an  American  paper- 
maker,  and  as  foreman  John  Hazleton,  an  Englishman. 
Hazleton  was  a  soldier  in  one  of  the  British  regiments 
stationed  in  ^Boston,  and  a  furlough  was  granted  him  to 
work  in  the  mill,  so  much  was  the  need  of  encouraging  the 
manufacture  of  paper.  Shortly,  however,  when  his  regi¬ 
ment  was  ordered  to  service  in  Canada,  he  rejoined  the 
colors,  and  was  among  those  who  met  death  on  the  plains 
of  Abraham.  Smith  continued  in  the  mill  until  he  was  an 
old  man,  and  associated  with  him  in  his  later  years  was 
his  son-in-law,  James  Boies,  and  Richard  Clarke,  an  ex¬ 
perienced  paper-maker  from  New  York,  who  was  said  to 
have  a  superior  knowledge  of  the  business  and  was  able  to 
make  his  own  moulds.^* 

In  December,  1763,  James  Boies — or  Boyce,  as  the  name 
was  often  spelled — and  Richard  Clarke  petitioned  the 
great  and  general  court  of  Massachusetts,  reciting  their 
work  in  making  paper,  and  employing  people  “in  picking 
up  Raggs  and  Ropes  of  which  the  Paper  is  made”  and  ask¬ 
ing  “a  Bounty  for  their  encouragement  of  this  Mystery.” 
Upon  this  petition  the  legislative  body  took  action  as  fol¬ 
lows  : 

“And  as  the  Paper  Mills  upon  the  milton  Stream 
have  been  very  advantageous  to  the  Province  but  are 
now  in  a  ruinous  Condition ;  therefore  in  order  to 
their  being  repaired 

“Resoh’ed  That  the  Treasurer  be  directed  to  pay 
into  the  hands  of  the  Petitioners  the  Sum  of  Four 


_“E.  P>.  Crane:  Early  Paper  Mills  in  Massachusetts ;  in  Collec¬ 
tions  of  the  Worcester  Societv  of  Antiquity,  VII.,  p.  115.  William 
Gqold Early  Paperniills  of  New  England;  in  The  New  England 
Historic-Genealogical  Register,  XXIX.,  p.  158. 

23 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


hundred  pounds,  taking  their  Obligation  without  In¬ 
terest  with  Sufficient  Security  for  the  repayment 
thereof.”^* 

A  second  mill  was  built  by  Boies  and  he  was  joined  by 
Clarke,  the  two  being  in  partnership  in  this  enterprise  for 
several  years.  The  second  mill  was  burned  in  1768,  but 
was  promptly  rebuilt.  A  third  mill  was  owned  in  1771  by 
Boies  and  Hugh  McLean,  his  son-in-law.  In  1773,  George 
Clarke,  son  of  Richard  Clarke,  added  a  fourth  mill  to  this 
group  which  had  thus  expanded  in  fifty  years.  The  Boies 
&  McLean  mill  was  burned  in  1782. 

Others  identified  with  the  mill  before  the  end  of  the  cen¬ 
tury  were  Daniel  Vose,  who  married  a  daughter  of  Jere¬ 
miah  Smith,  and  Jeremiah  Smith  Boies,  son  of  James 
Boies.  In  1795  Jeremiah  Smith  Boies  erected  another 
building  for  the  purpose  of  making  paper,  chocolate  and 
starch.  He  employed,  as  foreman,  Mark  Hollingsworth 
from  New  Jersey,  and  that  introduced  into  this  locality 
the  family  of  great  paper-manufacturers  of  that  name.^''’ 

These  early  paper-manufacturers  were  men  of  more 
than  ordinary  note  in  their  day.  Jeremiah  Smith  was  a 
native  of  Ireland,  coming  to  Boston  in  1726.  He  was  an 
intimate  friend  of  Governor  Thomas  Hutchinson  and 
socially  prominent.  James  Boies,  who  was  also  an  Irish¬ 
man,  born  in  1702,  lived  in  Milton  until  his  death  in  1796, 
at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-six.  He  served  with 
General  Wolfe  in  the  battle  on  the  plains  of  Abra¬ 
ham  before  Quebec,  in  1759,  and  during  the  revolu¬ 
tion  was  a  trusted  adviser  of  the  patriots  in  Dorchester, 
Mass.  He  took  an  active  part  in  constructing,  during  the 
night  of  March  4,  1775,  the  fortifications  on  Dorchester 
Heights  which  compelled  the  evacuation  of  Boston  by  the 
British  troops.  Hugh  McLean,  born  in  Ireland  in  1724, 
died  in  Milton  at  the  age  of  seventy-five."" 

Soon  after  1730,  Samuel  W^aldo  and  Thomas  VVest- 

^  Acts  and  Resolves  of  the  Proinnce  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay, 
XVII.,  p.  443. 

“Albert  K.  Teele:  The  History  of  Milton,  Mass.,  p.  371. 

^"Journal  of  The  American-Irish  Historical  Society,  VI.,  p.  79 
and  VII.,  p.  86. 


24 


OTHER  MILLS  OF  THE  COLONIES 


brook  planned  to  build  a  mill  in  Falmouth,  Me.,  and  Rich¬ 
ard  Fry,  a  paper-maker  from  England,  was  associated  with 
them  in  the  enterprise,  possibly  being  the  original  pro¬ 
moter.  Information  regarding  the  affair  is  derived  chiefly 
from  papers  in  the  court  files  of  Suffolk  county,  IMass. 
In  1739  Fry  was  confined  in  jail  in  Boston,  on  account  of 
a  debtor  judgment  of  £70  sterling  obtained  against  him 
by  Waldo  and  Westbrook  in  the  superior  court  sitting  in 


Samuel  Waldo. 

Principal  Proprietor  of  the  First  Paper-Mill  in  Maine. 
Kcprodutcd  from  an  engraving  after  the  oil  painting  in  JLiowdoin 
College. 


25 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


York,  Me.  From  the  jail,  on  June  22,  he  petitioned  Gov¬ 
ernor  Jonathan  Belcher  and  the  council  and  house  of  rep¬ 
resentatives  of  the  province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  for 
relief,  averring  that: 

“Your  petitioner  indented  with  Mr.  Samuel  Waldo 
in  the  }ear  1731  in  London,  to  have  built,  within  ten 
months  after  my  arrival  in  New  England,  a  paper 
mill.  Your  petioner  arrived  in  New  England  in  the 
year  1731  and  waited  four  years  wholy  at  his  own  ex¬ 
pense,  till  such  time  as  the  said  mills  were  built.  Your 
petioner  willing  to  promote  the  good  of  his  country, 
drew  a  plan  for  sundry  sorts  of  mills  to  be  built,  which 
was  across  Presumscot  river  in  Falmouth ;  which 
scheme  the  said  Waldo  and  Westbrook  came  into  and 
l)uilt  the  said  mills.  And  your  petitioner  sent  for  one 
Mr.  John  Collier  from  England,  which  took  the  lease 
of  the  said  mills  at  two  hundred  pounds  sterling  per 
annum  for  twenty  one  years.  Your  petitioner  was  to 
pay  sixty-four  pounds  sterling  per  ann.  for  twenty- 
one  years  for  the  papermills." 

Fry  sought  leave  to  bring  a  writ  of  review  of  his  case 
to  be  tried  in  Suffolk  county,  and  also  to  have  a  grant 
of  land  to  recompense  him  for  his  expenses  in  leaving 
England  and  for  his  work  in  the  province.  The  council 
was  not  at  all  impressed  by  his  claim  and  his  petition  was 
dismissed.  Although  the  petition  says  that  the  mills  were 
“across  the  Presumscot  river”  other  papers  in  the  Suffolk 
county  court  files  show  that  it  was  built  on  the  banks  of  the 
Stroudwater  river,  a  small  stream  near  the  Westbrook 
residence,  Harrow  House,  in  the  outskirts  of  Falmouth, 
afterwards  Portland,  Me.  A  note  about  it  is  in  the  diary 
of  the  Reverend  Thomas  Smith,  minister  in  Falmouth, 
under  date  of  September  5,  1733.  “We  all  rode  in  the 
Colonel’s  new  road  to  see  where  the  paper-mill  is  to  be 
.set.”‘^ 

Beyond  the  statement  in  the  Fry  petition,  contradicted 
by  court  papers,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  no  trace  has  been 
found  of  a  mill  on  the  Presumpscot.  That  on  the  Stroud¬ 
water  was  operated  for  some  years.  Workmen  from  Eng- 

William  Willis:  Journals  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Smith  and  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Deane,  p.  79. 


26 


OTHER  MILLS  OF  THE  COLONIES 


land  were  employed  and  it  is  said  that,  at  one  time,  they 
destroyed  the  machinery,  being  dissatisfied  with  the  low 
wages  paid  them.  Waldo  and  Westbrook  could  manu¬ 
facture  only  by  arrangement  with  Daniel  Henchman  and 
his  associates  of  Boston  whose  charter  gave  them  exclusive 
rights  in  Massachusetts  Bay,  of  which  province  the  Maine 
territory  was  then  part ;  and  their  only  market  was  Bos¬ 
ton.  The  mill  was  finally  burned  but  remains  of  the  dam 
and  foundations  of  the  building  existed  as  late  as  1875.^® 
According  to  the  papers  in  the  suit  against  him,  Fry  had 
an  active  part  in  the  operation  of  the  mill.  Waldo  and 
Westbrook  leased  the  mill  to  him,  in  1734,  for  a  term  of 
twenty-one  years  at  an  annual  rental  of  £40  sterling,  pay¬ 
able  quarterly,  and  they  also  agreed  to  build  and  lease  a 
house  for  him  to  live  in  and  to  lease  to  him  the  saw-mill 
that  stood  by  the  same  dam  if  that  should  interfere  with 
water  needed  for  the  paper-mill.  Fry  occupied  the  prop¬ 
erty  until  December  25,  1736,  but  failed  to  pay  his  rent. 
He  delivered  to  his  landlords  fifty  reams  of  paper  valued 
at  £10.  That  was  credited  to  him  on  the  account  for  un¬ 
paid  rent  and  it  was  for  the  balance  that  suit  was  brought 
and  judgment  obtained  which  held  him  in  jail  for  several 
years.-®  After  leaving  Maine  Fry  was  in  business  in  Bos¬ 
ton  as  this  advertisement  .‘^hows ; 

“This  is  to  ^s.ive  notice,  That  Richard  Fry,  Sta¬ 
tioner,  Bookseller,  Paper-Maker  &  Rag  Merchant 
from  the  City  of  London,  keeps  at  Mr.  Tho.  FleetT, 
Printer,  at  the  Heart  &  Croivn  in  Cornhill,  Boston  ; 
where  said  Fry  is  ready  to  accommodate  all  Gentle¬ 
men,  Merchants  and  Tradesmen,  ...  I  return 
the  Pnblick  Thanks  for  following  the  Direction  of  my 
former  Advertisement  for  gathering  Rags,  and  hope 
they  zvill  still  continue  the  like  method,  having  re¬ 
ceived  upwards  of  Seven  Thousand  Weight  al¬ 
ready.”-’^ 


William  Goold :  Early  Papcnnills  in  New  England;  in  The 
New  England  Historic-Genealogieal  Register,  XXIX.,  pp.  159-163. 

” Andrew  McFarland  Davis:  Introduction  to  Richard  Fry’s  A 
Scheme  for  a  Paper  Currency;  in  Club  for  Colonial  Reprints, 
Providence,  R.  I. 

^The  Weekly  Rehearsal,  May  1,  1732.  The  New  England 
Weekly  Journal,  April  24,  1732. 


27 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


Again  in  1734  Fry  specially  advertised  his  connection 
with  this  mill,  mentioning  his  interest  in  it  three  years 
before,  that  is  in  1731. 

“It  is  now  almost  Three  Years,  since  I  Published 
an  Advertisement,  to  shew  you  the  excellent  Economy 
of  the  Dutch,  in  the  Paper  Manufactory,  in  order  to 
induce  you  to  follow  so  laudable  an  Example ;  but  I 
am  sorry  to  say,  I  have  had  but  small  Effects  of  as 
yet :  When  Gentlemen  have  been  at  great  Expense 
to  serve  the  Public,  as  well  as  their  own  private  In¬ 
terest,  it  is  the  Duty  of  every  Person,  as  much  as  in 
them  lies,  to  help  forward  so  useful  a  Manufactory ; 
Therefore  I  intreat  all  those  that  are  Lovers  of  their 
Country,  to  be  Z'ery  careful  of  their  Linnen  Rags,  and 
send  them  to  Joseph  Stocker  in  Spring  Lane,  Boston, 
and  they  shall  receive  ready  Money  for  the  same.”®^ 

It  has  been  suggested  that  Fry  may  have  been  also  in¬ 
terested  in  the  paper-mill  in  Milton,  Mass.,  but  no  evi¬ 
dence  of  such  connection  exists.  More  likely,  as  a  shrewd 
wide-awake  business  man — for  such  he  appears  to  have 
been — he  was  doing  his  best  to  get  a  corner  on  the  few 
rags  in  the  community,  so  as  to  sell  again  to  the  needy 
mills  in  Maine  and  Massachusetts.  Fry  was  a  picturesque 
figure  in  the  business  life  of  Boston.  He  was  a  litigious 
individual,  and  the  court  records  of  Sufifolk  county  are 
laden  with  cases  in  which  he  was  plaintiff  or  defendant. 
While  in  jail  he  evolved  a  scheme  for  a  paper  currency 
that  he  submitted  to  the  provincial  government  only  to 
have  it  declined,  but  ultimately  to  become  a  treasured  rare 
Americana  of  later  genei'ations.  He  died  in  1745.  His 
widow,  Martha  Fry,  of  Boston,  took  out  papers  of  ad¬ 
ministration  on  his  estate,  describing  herself  as  a  “paper- 
maker,”  which  would  indicate  that  he  may  have  main¬ 
tained  some  connection  with  the  business  until  his  death. 

Samuel  Waldo  was  a  Boston  man  of  wealth,  prominence 
and  influence,  much  of  his  wealth  being  in  real  estate.  He 
removed  to  Falmouth  and  in  the  western  part  of  Maine 
acquired  possession  of  the  great  “Waldo  patent,”  a  tract  of 
land  of  fully  five-hundred  thousand  acres.  Easily  he  was 
the  foremost  man  of  his  time  in  that  section.  According  to 

The  Boston  N cws-Lcttcr,  October  17,  and  November  8,  1734. 

28 


OTHER  MILLS  OF  THE  COLONIES 


one  of  his  biographers  he  was  ambitious,  avaricious  and 
unscrupulous,  and  if  the  judgment  of  some  of  his  con¬ 
temporaries  was  correct,  he  did  not  permit  friendship  or 
other  considerations  to  interfere  over-much  with  any 
measures  that  he  planned  for  advancement  or  acquisition. 
In  the  Louisburg  expedition,  in  1745,  he  was  a  brigadier- 
general,  second  in  command  of  the  Masaschusetts  troops. 

Thomas  Westbrook  was  a  farmer  and  an  owner  of  real 
estate.  He  was  associated  with  Waldo  in  land  speculation 
in  which  he  was  ruined,  and  he  died  broken-hearted,  by 
reason  of,  iP  is  said,  the  perfidy  of  his  business  associate. 

The  fourth  Pennsylvania  mill,  which  followed  the  Rit- 
tenhouse  by  forty-six  years  and  the  Willcox  by  seven  or 
more  years,  was,  like  others  of  its  predecessors  and  con¬ 
temporaries,  principally  a  printer’s  mill.  This  was  Die 
Papier-Miihle  der  Bruderschaft  zii  Ephrata,  built  at 
Ephrata,  Lancaster  county,  on  the  banks  of  the  Cocalico 
creek.  Ephrata  was  a  communistic  and  ascetic  settlement 
of  a  branch  of  the  Pietists  of  Germany  who  came  to  Penn¬ 
sylvania  early  in  the  eighteenth  century.  The  members 
of  the  community  lived  in  a  kloster  or  convent  under 
monastic  rules  of  celibacy  and  austerity.  They  set  up 
several  establishments  such  as  grist  mills  and  saw  mills  and 
soon  the  community  became  a  great  industrial  center.  A 
grist  mill  was  built  about  1736  and  a  paper-mill  soon  after. 
At  first  the  Eckerling  brothers  were  in  charge  of  the  mill, 
but  after  they  had  been  expelled  from  the  community  be¬ 
cause  it  was  feared  that  they  were  becoming'  too  material¬ 
istic  and  practical,  the  work  was  directed  by  Samuel  Funk 
and  Jacob  Funk,  both  experienced  paper-makers. 

The  principal  product  of  the  mill  was  a  coarse  printing 
paper  and  what  was  known  as  “macalatur,”  though  some 
finer  kinds  of  writing  and  printing  were  made.  Ordinarv 
grades  of  printing  were  made  upon  plain  sieves  without 
water-mark,  but  other  grades  were  water-marked.  The 
wire  sieves  were  a  domestic  product  from  Isaac  Langle, 
of  Germantown,  who  died  in  1743.  It  was  claimed,  at  one 
time,  that  this  mill  was  turning  out  more  paper  than  any 
other  similar  establishment  in  the  colonies.  References 
in  the  Chronicon  Ephretense  show  that  the  mill  was  work- 


29 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


ing  as  late  as  1784.  In  the  diary  of  Brother  Kenon — Jacob 
Funk — is  an  entry  that  on  September  1,  1784,  “between 
2  and  3  o’clock  in  the  morning  the  new  building  was  set 
on  fire  but  luckily  the  fire  was  extinguished.” 

Ephrata  paper  was  variously  water-marked.  An  early 
mark  was  a  large  design  rudely  made,  “adopted  by  the 


Water-Mark  of  the  Paper 
OF  THE  Ephrata  Mills  of 
THE  ZioNiTic  Brother¬ 
hood,  MADE  ABOUT  1740. 


Water-Mark  of  the  Eph¬ 
rata  Mills'  Paper  Used 
IN  the  Saur  German 


Bible,  1743. 


Zionitic  brotherhood  and  intended  for  the  distinctly 
mystical  publications”  of  Ephrata.  Its  conspicuous  feature 
was  a  Latin  cross  surmounted  by  a  scroll  on  which  was 
graven  the  word  “Zion.”  Extending  from  the  top  of  the 
upright  to  the  ends  of  the  arm  of  the  cross  were  two  keys, 
these  referring  to  The  Keys  of  Solomon,  a  mystical  book 
of  the  seventeenth  century  held  in  high  esteem  by  the 
brotherhood.  The  foot  of  the  cross  rested  upon  a  panel 
upon  which  was  the  word  “Efrata”  and  the  whole  design 
was  surrounded,  as  in  a  frame,  by  an  ornamental  scroll. 
This  mark  is  seen  on  the  paper  of  a  book  printed  at 
Ephrata  before  1745.  After  the  Eckerling  period  other 
marks  were  used  particularly  indicating  the  management 
of  the  mill  by  the  Funk  brothers.  One  of  these,  on  the  fly 
leaf  of  a  Saur  Bible,  was  the  figure  4 — the  mystical  perfect 
number — and  the  initials  R  F — the  private  mark  of  the 
Funk  family.  Another  mark  on  the  paper  of  some  of  the 
publications  of  the  society  was  F  B,  standing  for  Brother 


30 


OTHER  MILLS  OF  THE  COLONIES 


Funk.  Then  there  was  a  post  horn  in  heart  shape  with 
E  F,  standing  for  Efrata,  in  the  center ;  the  letters  E  F 
on  fine  writing  paper;  and  sometimes  tlie  full  name  Efrata 
in  letters  nearly  an  inch  tall.®- 

Other  early  Philadelphia  paper-makers,  though  more 
celebrated  as  printers,  were  Christopher  Sanr — Sower  in 
English — and  Christopher,  his  son.  -  Saur  was  a  German, 
a  university  graduate,  educated  in  medicine  and  with  busi¬ 
ness  experience.  He  came  to  America  in  1724  and  settled 
in  Germantown,  where  he  was  a  farmer  and  established 
various  branches  of  manufacturing.  He  set  up  a  print¬ 
ing  press  in  1738  and  was  one  of  leading  printers  in  the 
colonies.  His  paper-mill,  built  in  1744,  or  before,  was 
located  on  a  branch  of  the  Frankford  river,  near  the  falls 
of  the  Schuylkill,  not  far  from  what  is  now  Manayunk. 
The  needs  of  his  printing  impelled  him  to  try  the  paper¬ 
making  business.  He  printed  many  books,  the  most 
famous  of  which  was  the  German  Bible  known  by  his 
name,  the  second  Bible  printed  in  America,  as  is  shown  by 
the  imprint  “Germantown  Printed  by  Christoph  Saur 
1743.”®^  Some  of  the  paper  for  this  Bible,  perhaps  indeed 
all,  came  from  the  mill  in  Ephrata,  but  it  is  possible  that 
the  Saur  mill  may  have  supplied  a  portion  of  the  stock. 
In  the  prospectus  for  this  Bible,  sent  out  in  1739,  Saur 
apologized  for  the  seeming  high  price  asked  for  it— four¬ 
teen  shillings — saying  that  the  paper  he  should  use  cost  at 
least  four  times  as  much  as  like  paper  cost  in  Germany. 

Upon  his  death  in  1758,  Saur  bequeathed  the  mill  and  its 
appurtenances  and  other  property  to  his  son  Christopher, 
who  became  one  of  the  foremost  Pennsylvania  men  of  his 
day  in  wealth  and  in  business  activity  and  success.  He 
bad  a  large  printing  business  and  “employed  two  or  more 
mills  in  manufacturing  paper.”®*  But  during  the  revolu¬ 
tion  trouble  befell  him  and  when  he  died,  in  1784,  he  was 
a  poor  and  broken  man.  On  religious  principle  a  non- 
resistant,  as  his  father  had  been  before  him,  he  would  not 

“  J.  F.  Sackse  :  The  Ephrata  Paper  Mill.  In  Papers  of  Lancaster 
County  [Penn.]  Historical  Society,  L,  p.  323-345. 

“  Isaiah  Thomas :  The  History  of  Printing  in  America,  I.,  p.  24. 

“  Henry  Simpson ;  Lives  of  Eminent  Philadelphians  ( 1859) ,  p.  906. 

31 


Home  of  the  Ziontic  Brotherhood,  Ephrata,  Lancaster  County,  Penn.  The  Old  Paper 
Mill  Is  the  Building  in  the  Lower  Left  Corner. 


OTHER  MILLS  OF  THE  COLONIES 


participate  in  the  colonial  uprising  against  the  British  rule, 
while  one  of  his  sons  was  suspected  of  being  in  full  sym¬ 
pathy  with  the  British  authorities  in  Philadelphia.  Ac¬ 
cused  of  toryism  he  was  placed  under  arrest  in  1778,  and, 
in  August  of  that  year,  all  his  property  was  confiscated 
and  sold,  the  sale  amounting  to  £17,640.^® 

A  Philadelphia  historian  gives  an  account  of  the  con¬ 
fiscation  and  sale  of  forfeited  estates  of  accused  tories  in 
December,  1779,  by  the  government  confiscation  agent  and 
quotes  this  entry  among  the  records  of  such  sales :  “Chris¬ 
topher  Saur,  house,  paper-mill,  saw-mill,  mill-dam,  etc., 
Wissahickon  road,  Roxborough,  sold  to  Jacob  Morgan, 
Jr.,  for  £5,150.”3« 

It  appears  that  Virginia  had  a  paper-mill  in  1744,  the 
first  in  that  colony.  William  Parks  built  it  in  Williams¬ 
burg  to  feed  his  printing  presses.  Parks  was  the  first  edi¬ 
tor  and  newspaper  publisher  in  Virginia.  He  came  from 
England  and  established  The  Maryland  Gazette  at  Annap¬ 
olis  in  1727,  continuing  there  for  eight  years.  Then,  by 
invitation  of  the  college  authorities  in  Williamsburg,  Va., 
he  removed  to  that  place,  opened  a  book-store,  set  up  a 
printing-press  and  established,  in  1736,  The  Virginia  Ga¬ 
zette.  Concerning  this  mill  the  Virginia  historian,  Lyon 
Gardiner  Tyler,  has  written  in  his  Williamsburg,  the  Old 
Colonial  Capital: 

“In  1744  William  Parks  erected  a  paper-mill  on  a 
branch  of  Archer’s  Hope  Creek  behind  the  present 
hospital  for  the  insane,  and  some  verses  were  printed 
in  The  Virginia  Gazette  to  celebrate  the  enterprise  of 
the  editor.” 

The  versified  tribute  from  a  friendly  contributor,  to 
which  Tyler  referred,  was  printed  in  the  issue  of  the 
Gazette  for  July  26,  1744,  and  in  it,  the  writer  joined  praise 
of  paper  with  the  plea  for  rags,  customary  to  the  period. 
As  reprinted  in  the  Virginia  Magazine  of  History  and  Bi- 
ography,  April,  1900,  it  was  as  follows : 

Charles  G.  Sower :  Genealogical  Chart  of  the  Descendants  of 
Christopher  Sower. 

“  J.  Thomas  Scharf  and  Thompson  Westcott:  History  of  Phila¬ 
delphia,  I.,  p.  397. 


33 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


THE  PAPER  MILL.  Inscrib’d  to  Mr.  Parks. 

In  nova,  fert  Animis,  mutates  dicere  formas,  Corpora. 

Ovid. 

Tho’  sage  Philosophers  have  said, 

Of  nothing,  can  be  nothing  made; 

Yet  much  thy  Mill,  O  Parks  brings  forth 
From  what  we  reckon  nothing  worth. 

Hail  kind  Machine! — The  Muse  shall  praise 
Thy  Labours,  that  receive  her  Lays. 

Soon  as  the  Learn’d  denounce  the  War 
From  pratling  Box,  or  wrangling  Bar, 

Straight,  Pen  and  Paper  range  the  Fight ; 

They  meet,  they  close,  in  Black  &  White 
The  Substances  of  what  we  think, 

Tho’  born  in  Thought,  must  live  in  Ink. 

Whilst  willing  Mem’ry  lends  her  Aid, 

She  finds  herself  by  Time  betray'd. 

Nor  can  thy  Name,  Dear  Molly,  live 
Without  those  Helps  the  Mill  must  give ; 

The  Sheet  now  hastens  to  declare. 

How  lovely  thou,  and — my  Despair. 

Unwitting  Youths,  whose  Eyes  or  Breast, 
Involve  in  Sighs,  and  spoil  of  Rest ; 

Unskill’d  to  say  their  piteous  Case, 

But  miss  the  Girl  for  want  of  Brass, 

May  paint  their  Anguish  on  the  Sheet ; 

For  Paper  cannot  blush,  I  weet. 

And  Phillis  (for  Bissextile  Year 
Does  only  once  in  Four  appear. 

When  Maids,  in  dread  to  lie  alone 
Have  Leave  to  bid  the  men  come  on), 

Each  Day  may  write  to  lure  the  Youth 
She  longs  to  wed,  or  fool,  or — both. 

Ye  Brave,  whose  Deeds  shall  vie  with  Time. 
Whilst  Mill  can  turn,  or  Poet  rhime 
Your  Tatters  hoard  for  future  Quires; 

So  Need  demands,  so  Parks  desires. 

(And  long  that  gen’rous  Patriot  live 
Who  for  soft  Rags,  hard  Cash  will  give!) 

The  Shirt,  Cravat,  the  Cap,  again 

Shall  meet  your  Hands,  with  Mails  from  Spain; 

The  Surplice,  which,  when  whole  or  new. 

With  Pride  the  Sexton’s  Wife  could  view, 

Tho’  worn  by  Time  and  gone  to  rack. 

It  quits  its  Rev’rend  Master’s  Back ; 

The  same  again  the  Priest  may  see 
Bound  up  in  Sacred  Liturgy. 

34 


OTHER  MILLS  OF  THE  COLONIES 


Ye  Fair,  renown’d  in  Cupid’s  Field, 

Who  fain  would  tell  what  Hearts  you’ve  killed ; 
Each  Shift  decay’d,  lay  by  with  care ; 

Or  Apron  rubb’d  to  bits  at — Pray’r, 

One  Shift  ten  Sonnets  may  contain. 

To  gild  your  Charms,  and  make  you  vain ; 

One  Cap,  a  Billet-doux  may  shape. 

As  full  of  Whim,  as  when  a  Cap, 

And  modest  ’Kerchiefs  Sacred  held 
May  sing  the  Breasts  they  once  conceal’d. 

Nice  Delia’s  Smock,  which,  neat  and  whole, 
No  Man  durst  finger  for  his  Soul ; 

Turn’d  to  Gazette,  now  all  the  Town, 

May  take  it  up,  or  smooth  it  down. 

Whilst  Delia  may  with  it  dispence. 

And  no  Affront  to  Innocence. 

The  Bards,  besure,  their  Aids  will  lend  ; 

The  Printer  is  the  Poet’s  Friend ; 

Both  cram  the  News  and  stuff  the  Mills, 

For  Bards  have  Rags,  and — little  else. 

Your  humble  Servant, 

I.  Dumhleton. 

Tyler,  in  his  Williamsburg,  also  states  that  it  is  believed 
the  mill  was  in  use  as  late  as  1770.  In  a  report  made  to 
the  London  Lords  of  Trade,  relative  to  the  affairs  of  the 
colony  at  this  time — printed  in  the  Virginia  Magazine  of 
History  and  Biography  for  1896 — Governor  William 
Gooch  recorded  the  fact  that  “We  have  likewise  a  Paper- 
Mill.” 

There  seems  to  have  been  no  other  contemporary  evi¬ 
dence  of  the  existence  of  this  mill.  Parks  died  in  1750  on 
the  ocean,  returning  to  England.  His  will,  which  was 
probated  in  Yorktown,  Ya.,  June  18  of  that  year,  has  no 
reference  to  any  mill  owned  by  him  at  that  time.  His 
estate  was  valued  at  £6,211  lS.y.  9d. 

Connecticut  had  no  paper-mill  until  after  the  middle  of 
the  century.  Christopher  Leffingwell  erected  a  mill  upon 
the  banks  of  the  Yantic  river  in  Norwich  in  1776  and  there 
made  all  kinds  of  paper,  printing,  writing,  wrapping,  car¬ 
tridge  and  sheathing.  The  quantity  annually  produced 
has  been  estimated  at  one  thousand  three  hundred  reams, 
and  the  prices  commanded  varied  from  4^  6d  to  45.?  per 
ream.  Ten  or  twelve  hands  were  employed.  The  mill 

35 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


was  an  object  of  great  interest  in  the  community.  A 
private  letter,  written  in  October,  1767,  said  of  it: 


“The  Paper-mill  at  Norwich  is  plentifully  supplied 

with  rags,  and  has  full 
demand  for  its  paper. 
Mr.  Throop  tells  me 
that  he  had  viewed  it 
when  at  work ;  that  it  is 
a  curiosity;  that  they 
mould  and  make  ready 
for  the  Press  about  ten 
sheets  per  minute  by  the 
watch. 


Although  admittedly 
the  mill  was  erected  to 


meet  a  pressing  eco¬ 
nomic  necessity  of  the 
community  it  was  not 
financially  successful  in 
the  beginning  and  gov¬ 
ernment  aid  was  asked 
for  to  keep  it  going  as 
an  undertaking  of  public 
importance.  In  M  a  y, 
1769,  the  general  assem¬ 
bly  of  the  colony  grant¬ 
ed  to  Leffingwell  an 
annual  bounty  of  “two 
pence  the  quire  on  all 
good  writing  paper,  and 
one  penny  the  quire  on 
all  printing  and  coarser 
paper”  that  should  be 
manufactured  by  him.®® 
In  1772  the  assembly 
resolved  “that  the  pay¬ 
ment  of  said  bounty  be  discontinued  for  the  future,  and 
said  grant  is  hereby  repealed.”  The  bounty  paid  to  Leffing- 


Christopher  Leffingwell. 

Reproduced  by  permission  from  Mary  E. 
Perkins’  Old  Houses  of  the  Antic nt 
Town  of  Norwich,  Conn. 


”  Frances  At.  Caiilkins  :  History  of  Norwich,  Connecticut,  p.  607. 
“  The  Public  Records  of  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  XIII.,  pp.  212 
and  580. 


36 


OTHER  MILLS  OF  THE  COLONIES 


well  amounted  to  £<S1,  16-s',  8(/.  In  1775  the  edition  of  The 
Comiecticiit  Gazette  containing  an  account  of  the  battle  of 
Lexington  and  Concord  wa-;  ])rinted  (jn  jjaper  from  this 
mill.  In  the  following  year  Leffingwell  had  his  son-in-law, 
Thomas  Hubbard,  associated  with  him  and  the  mill  in  the 
hands  of  Hubbard  and  his  descendants  continued  in  opera¬ 
tion  far  into  the  next  century. 

Nearly  fifty  ^ears  elapsed  from  the  time  when  Bradford 
essayed  to  start  a  mill  in  New  York  before  the  first  in 
that  colony  was  eventually  established.  This  was  on  Long 
Island  under  the  encouragement  of  another  printer,  Hugh 
Gaine,  who  was  scarcely  less  distinguished  in  his  calling 
than  Bradford  had  been.  It  was  built  in  Hempstead,  on 
the  shore  of  Hempstead  bay,  about  1768,  by  Hendrick 
Onderdonk  and  Henry  Remsen. 

“The  first  grist  mill  on  this  part  of  the  island,  it  is 
believed,  was  erected  here  about  a  century  since 
[1743]  by  Henrick  Onderdonk,  and  he  and  his  son 
Andrew  afterwards  built  a  paper  mill  also,  which  was, 
it  is  presumed,  the  first  established  in  this  state.  Hugh 
Gaine,  a  noted  printer  and  bookseller  in  the  city,  was 
connected  with  these  gentlemen  in  the  manufactory 
of  paper,  which  has  been  continued  at  this  place  ever 
since.’’®^' 

Writing  from  New  York,  under  date  of  May  7,  1768, 
to  Lord  Hillsborough,  of  the  London  Board  of  Trade, 
concerning  manufactures  in  the  colony.  Governor  Henry 
Moore  said  that  he  would  “be  particularly  attentive  to  any 
new  Establishments  of  which  we  have  no  instances  since 
my  last  letter,  except  in  the  paper-mill  begun  to  be  erected 
within  these  few  days,  at  a  small  distance  from  the 
Town.”'*”  Probably  this  reference  was  to  the  Hempstead 
mill  although  the  date  does  not  quite  agree  with  the  ap¬ 
proximate  date  assumed  by  the  historian  Thompson. 

In  the  provincial  convention  of  Maryland,  May  25,  1776, 
James  Dorset!  came  forwaid  with  a  proposition  to  build  a 
paper-mill.  Dorset!  was  a  member  of  the  convention  and 
that  body  promptly  took  action  as  follows : 

Benjamin  F.  Thompson :  The  History  of  Long  Island,  I.,  p.  58. 

“  The  Documentary  History  of  the  State  of  New  York,  I.,  p.  736. 

37 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


“Resolved,  That  the  sum  of  four  hundred  Pounds, 
common  money  be  advanced  to  James  Dorsett,  of 
Baltimore  County,  he  giving  bond  with  sufficient  se¬ 
curity  to  repay  the  same  within  two  years,  without 
interest,  either  in  cash  or  Writing  or  Cartridge  Paper, 
or  in  such  proportions  of  each  as  this  or  a  future 
Convention,  or  Council  of  Safety  in  their  recess,  shall 
direct  and  order ;  that  is  to  say :  one-third  part  thereof 
within  twelve  months,  and  the  other  two-thirds  within 
the  date  of  said  bond ;  he  at  the  same  time  engaging 
to  build  a  Mill  for  that  purpose  within  six  months 
from  the  date  of  his  said  contract;  and  to  sell  to  the 
inhabitants  of  this  Province  any  kind  of  paper  which 
he  may  make  as  cheap  as  the  same  can  or  shall  be  sold 
at  any  Mill  in  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania.” 

Confirming  this  resolution  of  the  convention  the  Mary¬ 
land  Council  of  Safety,  June  5.  1776,  ordered  that  the 
treasurer  of  the  Western-Shore  should  “pay  to  Mr.  James 
Dorsett  £400,  like  [common]  money,  to  enable  him  to 
erect  a  Paper-Mill. 

An  early  attempt  was  made  to  begin  paper-making  in 
North  Carolina.  The  German  Moravians  who  originally 
settled  in  that  state  established  several  industries  there 
before  they  moved  north  into  Pennsylvania.  Among  these 
was  a  paper-mill  which  was  started  in  Salem,  as  early  as 
1766,  according  to  some  authorities.  More  than  half  a 
century  later  this  mill  was  still  in  existence;  as  a  North 
Carolina  historian  recorded  it : 

“In  the  neighborhood  of  the  town  are  several  mills 
built  in  the  Middle  or  Bushy  fork  and  other  small 
branches,  as  paper  &c.’’^" 

This  one  lone  mill  was  quite  incapable  of  meeting 
public  needs  in  that  part  of  the  country,  as  is  revealed  in 
the  correspondence  of  that  time,  private  and  official.  When 
the  colonial  congress  of  North  Carolina  met  in  Hillsbor¬ 
ough,  in  September,  1775,  the  state  of  the  manufactures 
of  the  colony  was  seriously  considered  and  action  taken 

Peter  Force;  American  Archives,  4th  Series,  V.,  p.  1600  and 
VI.,  p.  1467.  Archives  of  Maryland,  II.,  p.  465. 

“Francois  Xavier  Martin:  The  History  of  North  Carolina,  I., 
appendix,  p.  liii. 


38 


OTHER  MILLS  OF  THE  COLONIES 


to  encourage  them.  To  the  end  that  a  paper-mill  might 
be  secured  it  was  resolved: 

“That  a  premium  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
be  given  to  the  first  person  who  shall  erect  and  build 
a  mill  for  manufacturing  of  Brown,  whited  Brown, 
and  good  writing  paper,  and  which  mill  shall  be  actu¬ 
ally  set  to  work,  and  thirty  Reams  of  Brown,  thirty 
Reams  of  whited  Brown,  and  thirty  reams  of  writing 
paper,  at  least  be  produced  to  the  provincial  Council, 
and  approved  of  by  the  said  Council  within  eighteen 
months  from  this  time ;  the  Brown  paper  to  be  of 
equal  goodness  to  Brown  paper  imported  from  Great 
Britain  of  the  price  of  two  Shillings  and  sixpence 
Sterling  per  Ream,  the  whited  Brown  equal  in  good¬ 
ness  to  whited  Brown  paper  imported  of  the  price  of 
three  Shillings  Stirling  per  Ream,  and  writing  paper 
equal  in  goodness  as  aforesaid  to  Eight  Shillings 
Sterling  per  Rearn.”^® 

It  was  not  until  more  than  two  years  later  that  there 
was  any  response  to  that  appeal,  as  far  as  the  records  indi¬ 
cate.  In  December,  1777,  John  Holgan,  of  Orange  county, 
appeared  before  the  congress  and  secured  favorable  action 
upon  his  petition  that  the  premium  should  be  paid  to  him 
if  he  should  be  able  to  produce  the  paper  as  required 
within  eight  months.  In  August  of  the  next  year  Holgan 
again  appeared  and,  saying  that  he  had  erected  a  mill  but 
had  been  unable  to  make  the  full  quantity  of  paper  on  ac¬ 
count  of  the  lack  of  water,  secured  an  extension  of  time 
of  six  months.  Further  evidence  of  the  existence  of  this 
mill  is  in  an  advertisement  “for  rags  for  the  Paper  Mill 
just  erected  near  Hillsborough  in  Orange  County,”  printed 
in  the  North  Carolina  Gazette,  November  14,  1777.^^ 

The  provincial  congress  of  South  Carolina,  in  session 
in  November,  1775,  considered  the  subject  of  the  encour¬ 
agement  of  manufacturing  in  the  colony,  especially  salt¬ 
petre,  sulphur,  bar-iron  and  steel,  nail  rods,  gun  locks, 
paper,  lead  and  linens.  Among  other  resolutions  one  was 
passed :  “That  a  premium  of  five  hundred  Pounds  cur- 

”  William  L.  Saunders:  Colonial  Records  of  North  Carolina,  X., 
p.  217. 

“Walter  Clark:  State  Records  of  North  Carolina,  XT.,  p.  804, 
XII„  pp.  413,  417,  812,  875. 


39 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


rency  be  given  to  the  person  who  shall  first  erect  and  es¬ 
tablish  a  proper  Paper  Mill  in  this  Colony,  upon  produc¬ 
ing  three  reams  of  good  writing  paper,  manufactured 
thereat.”  Probably  in  response  to  this  appeal,  William 
Bellamy  appeared  before  the  congress,  March  22,  1776, 
and  presented  a  proposal  for  erecting  “a  proper  Mill,  for 
making  Paper,  and  cutting  Files  at  the  same  time,”  and 
the  congress,  favorably  considering  the  proposition,  voted : 

“That  the  sum  of  three  thousand  Pounds,  currency 
be  advanced  to  the  said  William  Bellamy,  out  of  the 
Colony  Treasury,  on  loan,  for  the  term  of  five  years, 
free  of  interest,  in  consideration,  and  for  the  express 
purpose  of  his  forthwith  erecting  a  proper  Mill  for 
making  Paper  and  cutting  Files,  in  as  great  perfec¬ 
tion  as  in  any  part  of  Europe;  he,  the  said  Bellamy; 
giving  undeniable  security  .  .  .  for  the  perform¬ 

ance  thereof,  and  for  repayment  of  the  said  sum.”*® 


Peter  Force:  American  Archives,  4th  Series,  IV.,  p.  72.  V.,  pp. 
598  and  606. 


40 


CHAPTER  THREE 

A  PAPER  POVERTY 


Mills  of  the  Colonial  Period  were  Pew  in  Number 
AND  Poorly  Equipped — Importations  were  Slow 
AND  Scant — Newspapers  Resorted  to  Curious 
Make-shifts  —  Extraordinary  Scarcity  During 
THE  Revolution — Legislative  Action  to  Encour¬ 
age  Manufacturing  and  Conserve  Supply 

PAPER-MAKING  did  not  keep  pace  with  paper¬ 
using.  Despite  the  starting  of  a  few  mills  the 
scarcity  of  paper  was  more  and  more  decidedly  felt  in  all 
parts  of  the  country  from  1700  on.  Public  needs  steadily 
increased  with  the  growth  of  population  and  the  resultant 
social,  industrial  and  commercial  expansion  and  this  in¬ 
creased  need  was  quite  in  excess  of  the  ability  of  the 
market,  domestic  or  foreign,  adequately  to  meet.  Partly 
this  was  owing  to  the  financial  insufficiency  of  the  mass  of 
the  people  and  partly  to  the  difficulties  attending  the  estab¬ 
lishment  of  a  new  industry  where  there  was  a  dearth  of 
the  indispensable  raw  materials.  Much,  however,  was 
fairly  chargeable  to  the  studied  and  persistent  opposition 
of  the  mother  country,  though,  in  this  particular,  the  situ¬ 
ation  was  not  peculiar  to  paper ;  it  prevailed  in  the  case  of 
nearly  all  manufactured  necessities. 

In  connection  herewith  there  is  no  call  to  dwell  at  length 
upon  the  familiar  history  of  the  colonial  period.  As  soon 
as  there  were  indications  that  manufacturing  industries 
were  likely  to  develop  in  the  colonies  the  jealousy  of  the 
British  manufacturers  was  aroused,  for  they  had  always 
regarded  America  as  altogether  an  exclusive  market  for 
their  goods.  The  British  government,  acutely  responsive 

41 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


to  such  argument,  and  also  alive  to  the  political  importance 
of  deriving  revenue  from  the  colonies  and  at  the  same  time 
keeping  them  under  control,  discouraged  and  in  every  way 
endeavored  to  prevent  the  establishment  of  manufacturing 
enterprises  that  might  be  expected  adversely  to  affect  the 
interests  of  the  mother  country. 

As  regards  paper  a  single  instance  will  suffice  to  illus¬ 
trate  this  watchfulness.  In  1732  and  1733  the  subject  of 
the  pernicious  industrial  activity  of  the  colonies  was 
brought  up  in  parliament  and  the  lords’  commissioners 
for  trade  and  plantations  were  commanded,  June  15,  1733, 
to  investigate,  and  to  prepare  “an  account  of  the  Laws 
made,  Manufactures  set  up,  and  Trade  carried  on,  in  any 
of  His  Majesty’s  Colonies  and  Plantations  in  America 
which  may  have  affected  the  Trade,  Navigation,  and 
Manufacturers  of  this  Kingdom.’’  The  report  made  by 
the  commissioners  stated,  among  other  things,  that: 

“In  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  an  Act  passed  in  the 
Year  1728,  intituled.  An  Act  for  the  Encouragement 
of  Making  Paper.  This  Manufacture  .  .  .  has 

hitherto  made  but  a  small  Progress,  and  can  hardly 
be  said,  in  a  strict  Sense,  to  interfere  with  our  own 
Paper,  because  almost  all  the  Paper  sent  to  Neiv  Eng¬ 
land  is  foreign  Manufacture ;  but  it  certainly  inter¬ 
feres  with  the  Profit  made  by  our  British  Merchants 
upon  the  foreign  Paper  sent  to  this  Province.  How¬ 
ever  no  Complaint  has  ever  been  made  to  Us  against 
this  Law.” 

“Mr.  Belcher,  the  present  Governor  of  this  Province 
[Massachusetts  Bay]  .  .  .  acquainted  us  .  .  . 

That  about  Three  Years  ago  a  Paper  Mill  was  set  up, 
which  makes  to  the  Value  of  about  Two  hundred 
pounds  Sterling  per  annum.  And  he  hath  since  in¬ 
formed  us  that  there  hath  lately  been  a  new  Paper 
Mill  set  up  at  Ealmouth  in  Casco  Bay,  which  at  that 
Time  [17H]  had  not  begun  to  work  for  want  of 
Materials.”^® 


**  The  Belcher  Papers:  In  Collections  of  the  Massachusetts  His¬ 
torical  Society,  Sixth  Series,  VI.,  pp.  68,  70  and  489.  David  Mac- 
pherson :  Annals  of  Commerce,  III.,  p.  186.  Representation  of  the 
Board  of  Trade,  relating  to  the  Laws  made,  &c.  in  His  Majesty’s 
Plantations  in  America  to  the  House  of  Lords,  January  23,  1734, 
pp.  5  and  12. 


42 


A  PAPER  POVERTY 


The  mills  referred  to  were  that  in  Milton,  Massachu¬ 
setts,  and  that  of  Waldo  and  Westbrook  m  Maine. 

Notwithstanding  all  efforts  to  repress  domestic  indus¬ 
tries  and  to  hold  colonial  trade  at  the  command  of  the 
British  manufacturers  and  shippers,  importations  were  not 
easy  nor  voluminous  and  most  imported  goods  were  costly. 
This  was  particularly  true  of  paper.  England,  still  be¬ 
hind  in  this  branch  of  manufacturing,  could  in  no  wise 
supply  the  colonial  market  which  continued  to  be  starved ; 
for  the  domestic  mills  that  had  sprung  up  were  as  yet  so 
few  in  number  and  so  limited  in  capacity  that  they  were 
far  from  being  able  to  make  up  the  deficiency. 

Then  came  the  stamp  act  of  1765,  and,  in  1767,  the 
Townshend  measures  placing  import  duties  upon  glass, 
paper,  pasteboard,  lead,  painters’  colors  and  tea.  Ulti¬ 
mately  this  legislation  was  beneficial  since  it  provoked  the 
industrial  and  political  revolt  that  led  to  independence.  Eor 
the  moment  however  it  only  served  to  intensify  feeling 
against  trade  restrictions  and  to  aggravate  the  economic 
situation.  The  non-importation  and  non-intercourse  agree¬ 
ments  of  the  colonists  gave  added  impulse  to  native  enter¬ 
prise,  but  it  was  years  before  industrial  stringency  could 
be  brought  to  an  end,  in  paper  as  in  all  else. 

Many  makeshifts  were  resorted  to  in  meeting  difficulties 
that  arose  from  this  shortage  of  paper.  Newspapers  par¬ 
ticularly  were  great  sufferers  for  they  were  the  largest 
consumers,  and  evidence  of  the  straits  into  which  they 
were  forced  has  been  fully  preserved  in  them.  In  some 
instances  the  regular  weekly  issues  were  omitted  because 
there  was  no  paper.  Erequently  they  were  printed  upon 
paper  of  diverse  sizes,  colors  and  qualities,  whatever  the 
worried  printer  might  be  able  to  find. 

Often  curious  typographical  vagaries  were  compelled 
by  the  necessity  of  economizing.  Printed  matter  was 
squeezed  in  on  the  margins,  outside  the  usual  width  of 
the  printed  page,  sometimes  in  narrower  column  measure 
than  in  the  body  of  the  paper.'*^  The  New  York  Mercury, 

”  The  Boston  News-Letter,  May  29,  1760.  The  New  York  Mer¬ 
cury,  July  30,  December  3  and  December  31,  1764;  February  18, 
March  4,  and  May  20,  1765, 


43 


For  Stie,  at  Currier’s  Vendue-Room, 

Tins  D«r,  Oio*  Lmih  Irik  Umu,  BrtU 

dalu.racrt  do.  CallmicMi,  IVclUn,  lou,  fiUHar,, 
MuuaDdrVomniiSilk,  TSoMoMlGanMi,  H^do. 
copri  Sltoei,  Booa,  Ftll,  CuSarae  Bsotr  Kan,  OoU  bead, 
do.  kt.  Aad  on  Taafdij,  at  *a  nfaaga  Maikal,  a  tteoackr 
€i  damtiped  Goodk  ^ 

OODS. 

f"pO-Moiro«  wiltW  <rtd Kdw Coffw-Boafit,  at 
M.  »  O'clock.  «  OglACiirof  daiMnd  Sail  Ihick.  Ito.  1. 1. 
and  t,  aad  Cbrck  Umk.  Al(b  a  ft*  B«a«  of  H^d  taaa. 

TO-MORROW, 

At  )  o*C>ock  la  (k«  AftamoM.  oil)  ka  Md  at  VcndiH,  tha 
Houfe  and  LoiW  Gfouad  arxi  Door  to  Dr.  lard'i  |  'll*  a 
jfiy  Conmodiou*  Lot,  aad  tbc  DaomioB*  larg*.  9c  Feat 
in  Iffiftt  oa  balk  M«*  1  tosi  la  Fn»t  aad  Raar  of  fact,  Datch 
Mcatuic. 

1»  be  tSDU.  tt  (utbllt  Cenbui. 

./ft  Peter  Vergereaut  U’endue-Store^ 

At  <hc  Hoeda  of  WtlMan  MaontbarA,  evfwfite  'BaHina'*a 
Slip,  eo  Tlic»iD»  tlw  aiilnt.  t«o  atai  Jifpna’d  Caft 
E>K<i(  Da)r  CtociM,  tOtt  •Mtb'Hrt  a  Cafii,  a  fimr  Tuakard. 
Tca-fot,  fugar-Boz,  and  Spoon*. And  a*cr7  X>af  wqpafad 
tor  Sale,  at  laid  teort,  ^  fowinttg  0ood*.  wh.  to^cr  Ciotki, 
foiaa  Ramaaatt  at  JSreadciocs,  Sbatooe*.  PtuA,  lap. 

Mo’d  Wauart,  Da.  Biiftatt,  Sbwtiag,  qoihod  fetticot*,  Glaf* 
^■mthoro*.  Shoe*,  fcc.  dec. _ 

"  ^0  be  Wb.  at  puMit  ^mBue, 

ON  TiKldajr  the  fiecond  Xny  oi  April  neat,  at  lOe  Merchant'* 
Ctsdisc-HoujHi,  tka  Roa£t  and  Loc  of  Land,  na«  in  fonaffioa 
of  iTaac  LaiKHKh,  is  QiiaaD’btrccl.  oppofire  tba  Treaforet**. 
A  Plan  ot  the  irOt  to  ba^iaepar  Teltman  Corirr'*. 

<^a  bt  Oslb  tc  piiliUc  airnbut. 

By  ISAAC  MAN,  tod  JOSEPH  tORMAN, 

Ob  Die  tptk  Dif  (dMarch  on  tba  freenifV*  { 

The  Muvnt-plraiant  for^c,  at Sp<iii9*eld,  ( con- 

sc.in,(  ot  t«a  file*  and  ooc  hammer,  kiroMn  the  nama  of 
fwtier'b  Iron-Work*,  a^ht  nnle*  dtiUnt  cither  trom  bitxibeti’. 
Tows  or  Newark  ^  with  thuty  6ve  atre*  larHlIying  roond 
the  t'orge,  aad  about  ovckoailrt-d  »<re»  ot  hod  more  within  a 
tbria  and  a  halt  ot  faid  lorge  1  There  a  aha  great  quanthiaa  ot' 
limber  to  be  had  tmr  a  trHk,  y««y  hamijr )  ond  a  number  ot  the 
n«-^hb<H)r»  have  (Mic«d  themulvc*  \Tf  wntingi  under  tbeir 
barids,  to  turntth  wootfa?  a  modern  cod,  lot  a  number  of  yeara 
to  <uit2<  i  witbm  three  ntika  or  the  premies  Tbe  worka  oa' tha 
laid  torec  tt  allowed  by  n<o  ot  fudf^toent,  to  be  a*  complaat  M 
any  in  to*  provicce.  There  uaftrong  dam,  a  very  heady  aod 
cotiftani  hicata,  not  Uahk  to  fail  by  drought,  at  roany  other* 
are  it  it  a!l<<  fed  Wy  fpnctgt,  and  eonfetiirtnil)  not  lubk  to  be 
hop'd  by  f'rolt.  Tacre  iafundry  d»«ding  bouki,  aeoai-boufa, 
a  black  fmitir*  (bnp  andtooi.a  Sam,  a  garden,  and  many  uCber 
conyenieiu-iet  o&tbe  ptaisHc*.  TbanoiS  alfo  be  Add,  coali, 
C'lT'J  irowj,  hoHe*.  catriej  teaisi,  and  tackle,  tc^ethcr  imh  the 
houiJiuld  guodt.  6k,  for  tunfaer  particidar*,  enqui.e  of  llaac 
Mill,  or  Jotapb  f  9raM*b  M  fMte  Vorh.  or  Mr.  fotrer,  bring 
M  iO*  prtcalie*. 

KxLraordixiafy  Encaurogem^t, 

For  fober.  bone#,  aad  toduflnoo*  faimar*,  Carpaatertf 
Mill  Wright*,  Wheel  Wtight*.  Black  Smiths,  Cotmtt,  and 
l><-  i(  Huiider*  ^  wbuatt  mdinaiit*  to  remove  with  tbetr  faffliitei, 
ag*i<.H  the  6rA  «?f  May  tMKi.  t<>  the  benklDcnt  near  Crown 
Puim,  to  tlK  Coumy  «d  Albaa>.  Apply  penoaaiiy,  of  by 

^  "w  I  LLIAM  GILLILAND, 

.Who  want*  at  Hia  abo»«S«tlemeot,  Twenty  Cow*  tn  Calf,  Ten 
Yoke  at  Oxen,  and  one  Bull  (  to  be  all  ypuuf  and  Urn.  They 
muft  be  daliMf'd  at  Cro%m*Pdlntj  caidy  in  tbd  Month  of  May 
ocat  .riAnf  Peribn  cnlllngto  contrafl  iur  tbem  are  defired  to  be 
ifvedy  in  fending  him  th^r  Propolali. 

JAMES  MURRAY 

Strm^  o«sf  AythHorit  /Mr  rttKt>ati  hu  Sboffrm  t6*  M*ai- MarMt) 
/•  at  tefytr  Cvnttr  if  tM  fij-markttt  Ut*^  Mr,  Wti^ 

limr,  Kew  Vt,  Mirthdmf, 

A  Freih  Afiortincnt  of  the  very  bell 

geniLpa  Dfugg*  from  the  JLaboratorfn  in  X-ondon.  which  b« 
le'U,  ai<  as  cheap  m  a»r  body  in  Town,  of  e<}ual  Goodnal*. 
Ai  he  airet  cottAaat  Attesdaace,  Paaily  and  other  Pt^ripli. 
out  dull  be  faithtofly  nude  up,  and  tnfbnably  ebatfad.  Cm- 
inilTtuiit  tr«m  DoCtortard  Pt.<^tionersin  the  Cosntry,  ftall  be 
hu»el>l|r  eaeciitt^  and  ctaiveJ  low.  on  *'*'^‘*** 


1-Gl 

a-?  •  s>> 

^1  5  J3  ^ 

!  s  1! 


8  56*  9  5* 


51 

« il •'S  t-' 

s|5  5"l- 

pi  I  =2!  ' 

if-jJ  u  ;s 

fcjHil 


SNiailfll 


A  Printer’s  Paper  Economy. 

From  the  Ne7t'  York  Mercury,  February  18,  1765. 


A  PAPER  POVERTY 


at  this  time,  usually  had  two  wide  columns  to  a  page.  One 
issue  of  four  pages  had  on  each  of  two  pages,  two  wide 
columns  of  print  and  a  single  narrow  column  run  close  up 
to  the  outside  edge  of  the  page ;  on  each  of  the  other  two 
pages  were  two  wide  columns  and  more  text,  the  same 
width  of  column,  printed  in  reverse  position,  up  and  down 
the  margin.^®  Sheets  'of  paper  that  had  come  from  the 
mould  damaged  or  imperfect  or  that  may  have  been  torn 
in  the  handling  were  not  thrown  away ;  on  the  contrary 
they  were  kept  and  carefully  repaired  by  pasting  in  order 
that  they  might  still  be  used  on  the  press.  So  skillfully 
was  this  repair  work  done  that  even  now  it  is  difficult  to 
detect  in  copies  of  newspapers  where  such  sheets  were 
utilized.^® 

In  this  exigency  a  certain  Boston  printer  and  stationer — 
Thomas  Eleet — had  an  unexpected  stroke  of  good  for¬ 
tune.  A  Spanish  ship,  sailing  for  some  Mexican,  West 
Indies  or  South  American  Spanish  destination,  in  1748, 
was  captured  b}'  an  English  cruiser  and  taken  into  the 
port  of  Boston.  There  her  cargo  was  discharged  and 
sold,  among  the  rest  being  several  bales  of  papal  bulls  or 
indulgences  printed  on  small  sheets  of  very  good  paper. 
Eleet  bought  the  entire  lot  for  a  low  price  and  used  it  in 
his  business,  printing  popular  songs  or  broadsides  on  the 
backs  of  the  sheets.  Sometimes  two  songs  were  printed 
on  the  back  of  a  single  sheet.  Such  printings  of  Black- 
Eyed  Susan,  Handsome  Harry,  and  Teague’s  Ramble  to 
the  Camp  and  others  have  been  preserved.  He  also  ad¬ 
vertised  these  bulls  for  sale,  in  his  newspaper  in  this  wise : 

“Choice  Pensylvania  Tobacco-Paper  to  be  Sold  by 
the  Publisher  of  this  Paper,  at  the  Heart  &  Crown  in 
Cornhill,  Boston;  where  may  also  be  had  the  BULLS 
or  Indulgences  of  the  present  Pope  Urban  VIH. 
either  by  the  single  Bull,  Quire  or  Ream,  at  a  much 
cheaper  Rate  than  they  can  be  purchased  of  the 
French  or  Spanish  Priests,  and  yet  will  be  warranted 
to  be  of  the  same  Advantage  to  the  Possessors.”®® 

The  New  York  Mercury,  October  1,  1764. 

"  J.  Leander  Bishop:  A  History  of  American  Manufacturers,  I  , 
p.  206.  The  Albany  Register. 

^  The  Boston  Evening-Post,  November  14,  1748. 

45 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


With  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  in  1775  the  situation 
became  even  more  serious.  Calls  for  paper  for  official 
purposes,  such  as  correspondence,  military  and  legislative 
orders,  documents  and  records,  and  for  newspapers,  broad¬ 
sides,  political  papers  and  sermons,  increased  tremend¬ 
ously.  Importation  was  stopped  completely  and  the  home 
manufacture  was  greatly  hindered,  because  practical 
paper-makers  were  hard  to  find ;  either  they  had  gone  away 
with  the  British  regiments  to  which  they  belonged  or 
whose  protection  they  sought,  as  tories,  or  they  were 
patriots  eager  to  serve  in  the  continental  army. 

In  the  annals  of  that  time  we  find  frequent  expression 
of  the  inconvenience  of  this  paper  poverty.  General  Philip 
Schuyler,  writing  to  General  Washington,  from  Albany, 
August  27,  1775,  said:  “Excuse  these  scraps  of  paper; 
necessity  obliges  me  to  use  them,  having  no  other  fit  to 
write  on.”  Again,  writing  from  Ticonderoga,  August  14, 
1775,  to  Governor  Jonathan  Trumbull,  the  same  officer 
said :  “Having  very  little  paper  left,  I  am  under  the  neces¬ 
sity  of  sending  this  without  cover  and  which  also  induces 
me  to  get  your  honour  to  send  a  line  to  Colonel  Mott  to 
make  all  possible  haste  up.®^  John  Adams  in  a  letter  from 
Philadelphia  to  his  wife  in  Massachusetts,  under  date  of 
April  15,  1776,  wrote:  “I  send  you,  now  and  then,  a  few 
sheets  of  paper;  but  this  article  is  as  scarce  here  as  with 
you.”  On  May  6,  1776,  Colonel  David  Gilman  wrote  to 
the  New  Hampshire  committee  of  safety:  “My  officers 
here  make  a  great  complaint  for  the  want  of  paper.  They 
cannot  receive  the  necessary  orders,  and  make  proper  re¬ 
turns  of  their  companies,  for  want  of  that  article.”®* 

Fly  leaves  from  printed  books  were  eagerly  sought  and 
blank  leaves  from  old  account  books  were  prizes.  A 
manuscript  journal  of  the  British  house  of  commons,  of 
the  Cromwellian  period,  in  sixteen  volumes,  is  in  the 
library  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society.  How  it  came 
to  this  country  is  not  known,  but  before  the  revolution  it 

"Peter  Force:  American  Archives,  4th  Series,  III.,  pp.  135  and 
443. 

“’Peter  Force:  American  Archives,  4th  Series,  V.,  pp.  942  and 
1218. 


46 


A  PAPER  POVERTY 


was  in  Morristown,  N.  J.  There  the  volumes  served  a 
good  purpose,  for  “their  ample  margins  had  been  partially 
used  by  a  commanding  officer  of  the  Continental  army, 
when  paper  was  scarce,  to  write  his  orders  upon.®^ 

A  general  order  from  Washington’s  headquarters  in 
New  York,  July  24,  1776,  directed  the  brigadier-generals, 
colonels  and  commanding  officers  to  send  in  an  estimate  of 
the  quantity  of  paper  which  they  needed.  Upon  receipt  of 
this  estimate,  which  appears  to  have  been  promptly  made 
as  an  emergency  measure,  the  following  order  was  issued, 
from  headquarters,  on  July  29: 

“The  Quartermaster-General  is  directed  to  furnish 
twelve  quires  of  Paper  to  each  Regiment,  per  month, 
viz :  one  quire  to  the  Commanding  Officer  of  the  Regi¬ 
ment,  one  to  each  Company,  and  one  to  the  Adjutant; 
the  remaining  two  quires  to  be  kept  by  the  Colonel,  as 
a  reserve  for  special  occasions,  exclusive  of  Orderly 
books  and  blank  Returns.”®* 

Again  and  again  urgent  pleas  were  sent  out  to  induce 
those  who  might  perhaps  have  in  hand  a  little  paper,  to 
bring  it  in  for  the  army  needs.  An  example  of  this  re¬ 
quisitioning  is  a  general  order  from  the  headquarters  of 
General  Gates,  at  Ticonderoga  in  August,  1776,  as  follows: 

“All  persons  possessed  of  any  whited  brown  or 
white  paper  may  have  ready  money  for  it  at  Head- 
Quarters,  or  the  like  quantity  and  quality  immediately 
returned  upon  its  arrival  from  Lake  George.”^^ 

The  Southern  colonies  also  suffered  severely.  Paper- 
mills  had  not  been  established  there  before  the  revolution 
and  dependence  for  supplies  was  placed  upon  the  north  or 
upon  foreign  importations.  The  safety  committee  of 
North  Carolina  closely  watched  the  stock  of  paper  in  the 
market,  ordering  the  selling  or  the  holding  of  it  as  oc¬ 
casion  seemed  to  require.  In  connection  with  one  sale  it 
was  particularly  directed  “that  one  ream  be  purchased  for 


“’John  F.  Watson:  Annals  and  Occurrences  of  New  York  City 
and  State  in  the  Olden  Time,  p.  67. 

“Peter  Force:  American  Archives,  5th  Series,  I.,  pp.  578  and 
678. 

“Peter  Force:  American  Archives,  5th  Series,  V.,  p.  1126. 

47 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


the  use  of  this  committee  only.”''®  One  ream  only  !  Could 
anything  more  strikingly  make  manifest  the  meagreness  of 
supply  and  the  patriotic  moderation  of  the  committee?  In 
1781  General  Jethro  Sumner  of  North  Carolina,  in  the 
field,  wrote  to  Colonel  Ashe :  “Be  pleased  to  have  sent  me 
Six  Quire  of  paper  and  a  box  of  wafers.”  About  the 
same  time  Governor  Thomas  Burke,  of  the  same  state, 
wrote  from  Williamsborough  to  Major  Tatom  : 

“I  request  you  now  to  procure  me  a  rheam  of  writ¬ 
ing  paper  from  Mr.  John  Kelly,  &  to  send  it  by  the 
bearer.  Let  Mr.  Kelly  be  assured  that  I  will  see  him 
paid  in  tobacco  or  money  (at  his  election)  a  reason¬ 
able  price ;  and  that  when  I  come  up,  I  will  agree  with 
him  for  his  whole  quantity.”®' 

In  March,  1782,  Colonel  Robert  Burton  wrote  to  Gov¬ 
ernor  Burke :  “I  have  not  at  this  time  one  quire  of  paper, 
nor  the  means  of  procuring  it.”  In  the  same  month  Colonel 
Nicholas  Long  also  notified  the  governor  that:  “the  camp 
is  nearly  destitute  of  paper.”®®  Note  the  extreme  modesty 
of  these  requests  and  the  quiet,  uncomplaining  manner  in 
which  these  patriots  told  their  simple  wants. 

In  1783  Thomas  Davis,  the  public  printer,  reported  to 
the  North  Carolina  assembly  that  he  had  been  to  great 
trouble' and  expense  “in  procuring  paper  to  print  the  acts 
of  the  last  assembly”  and  the  assembly,  deciding,  after  in¬ 
vestigation,  that  “neglect  of  not  having  the  journal  of  the 
last  session  printed  did  not  proceed  from  Mr.  Davis  but 
merely  from  want  of  paper”  made  him  an  allowance  there¬ 
for.®*  At  the  sitting  of  the  assembly  in  May  of  that  year 
it  was  considered  necessary  to  appoint  a  special  commit¬ 
tee  “to  devise  ways  and  means  to  procure  writing  paper 
for  the  present  session,  it  evidently  appearing  there  will 
be  a  want  of  that  article.” 

Instances  like  the  foregoing  could  be  multiplied  a  hun- 

“ William  L.  Saunders:  The  Colonial  Records  of  North  Caro¬ 
lina,  X.,  pp.  298  and  305. 

"Walter  Clark:  State  Records  of  North  Carolina,  pp.  447 
and  564. 

"Walter  Clark:  State  Records  of  North  Carolina,  XVI.,  pp. 
222  and  536. 

"Walter  Clark:  State  Records  of  North  Carolina,  XIX.,  p.  167. 

48 


A  PAPER  POVERTY 


dred  fold  without  exhausting  the  subject.  Congress,  com¬ 
mittees  of  safety  and  other  patriot  directing  bodies  were 
compelled  to  take  cognizance  of  the  condition  of  things  and 
were  continually  resolving,  voting,  decreeing  and  ordering 
in  endeavors  to  keep  the  mills  going  and  to  increase  the 
paper  supply.  In  Pennsylvania  there  was  special  activity 
in  this  respect,  for  more  than  one-half  the  paper  used  in 
the  colonies  was  then  made  in  or  near  Philadelphia.  The 
continental  congress  sitting  in  that  city  early  recognized 
the  importance  of  keeping  the  paper-makers  at  their  trade 
rather  than  on  the  battle  front.  In  July,  1776,  Henry  Katz 
and  Frederick  Becking,  on  behalf  of  themselves  and  other 
paper-makers  in  the  county  of  Philadelphia,  memorialized 
the  committee  of  safety  for  Pennsylvania : 

“That  if  all  the  Paper  Makers,  Masters,  Appren¬ 
tices,  and  Journeymen  within  the  Ages  aforesaid,  [16 
to  50]  should  now  leave  the  Trade  and  follow  the 
Camp,  then  all  and  every  the  Paper  Mills  in  Philad’a 
County,  making  the  Majority  of  Paper  Mills  on  this 
Continent,  must  immediately  be  shut  up,  and,  of 
course,  in  a  few  Weeks,  the  printing  offices,  even  Cart¬ 
ridge  Paper,  would  soon  fail.”®® 

Perhaps  in  response  to  this  plaint  the  congress  resolved, 
on  July  19,  1776:  “that  the  paper-makers  in  Pennsylvania 
be  detained  from  proceeding  with  the  associators  to  New 
Jersey.”®^  Confirming  and  supporting  this  action  the 
Pennsylvania  council  of  safety,  August  9,  1776,  enacted  the 
following:  “The  Honorable  Congress  having ,resolved  that 
the  Paper-Makers  in  Pennsylvania  be  detained  from  Pro¬ 
ceeding  with  the  Associators  to  New  Jersey,  all  officers  of 
this  State  are  Required  to  pay  a  strict  Regard  to  the 
same.”  ®® 

New  York  was  not  less  disturbed  than  Pennsylvania. 
In  a  letter,  dated  May  29,  1776,  Charles  Loosely  and 
Thomas  Elms,  paper-makers,  petitioned  the  provincial 

'^Pennsylvania  Archives,  2d  Series,  I.,  p.  615. 

Journals  of  the  Continental  Congress,  V.,  p.  593.  Pennsylvania 
Evening  Post,  July  27,  1776. 

“  Minutes  of  the  Council  of  Safety,  in  Colonial  Records  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  X.,  p.  680. 


49 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


congress  of  New  York  to  exempt  them  from  military  ser¬ 
vice,  setting  forth  that : 

“We  humbly  beg  leave  to  represent,  that  we  were 
regularly  bred  in  Englatid  to  the  business  of  paper 
making,  which  we  understand  in  all  its  branches,  and 
have  carried  to  higher  degrees  of  perfection  than  ever 
it  arrived  before  in  America,  where  we  have  been  the 
means  of  increasing  the  number  of  paper  mills,  im¬ 
proving  their  construction,  and  moderating  the  price 
of  paper.  But  the  work  being  carried  on  at  great 
expense,  (no  less  than  twenty  shillings  per  day  for 
rent,  and  a  number  of  hands,  who  require  our  con¬ 
stant  oversight  and  direction,)  we  could  not  attend  the 
forementioned  military  exercises  but  at  an  excessive 
disadvantage  and  expense ;  which  would  certainly 
either  ruin  the  business,  or  oblige  us  to  discontinue  it ; 
for  the  rent  would  still  go  on,  and  the  water  run  to 
waste ;  the  workmen  left  to  themselves  might  neglect 
or  spoil  the  work ;  disorder  and  habits  of  idleness 
take  place,  and  effectually  put  an  end  to  that  atten¬ 
tion,  care,  industry  and  frugality,  that  are  absolutely 
necessary  to  give  success  to  this  business.  Nor  could 
it  have  been  in  our  power  to  supply  you,  gentlemen, 
with  the  paper  for  the  Provincial  money,  nor  the 
printers,  with  whom  we  have  contracted,  with  the 
quantities  necessary  for  their  weekly  publications, 
which  will  not  admit  of  disappointment.”®* 

A  few  months  later,  in  August,  the  same  paper-makers, 
witli  John  Holt,  printer,  associated  with  them,  again 
memorialized  the  New  York  congress: 

“Your  memorialists  humbly  propose  that  an  im¬ 
mediate  order  of  this  honourable  Convention  be  issued 
to  prevent  the  paper-makers  from  being  compelled  or 
permitted  to  go  upon  military  service,  since,  in  the 
present  infant  state  of  that  necessary  manufactory,  the 
check  it  would  receive  in  either  of  these  cases  would, 
in  all  human  probability,  entirely  suppress  the  manu¬ 
factory,  which  has  been  for  many  months  past,  and 
is  at  present,  the  only  means  of  supply  of  paper  to 
every  department  and  business  in  the  State,  which, 
without  it,  would  be  laid  in  the  most  distressing  and 
extensive  difficulties,  which  will  be  obvious  to  every 
one  upon  the  least  consideration. 


“  Peter  Force:  American  Archives,  4th  Series,  VI.,  p.  615. 

50 


A  PAPER  POVERTY 


“If  this  matter  should  be  thought  deserving  the  no¬ 
tice  of  this  honourable  House,  it  is  humbly  requested 
that  they  would,  as  speedily  as  possible,  issue  their 
orders,  since  the  least  delay  may  irretrievably  ruin 
some  paper  manufactories  which  have  supplied  the 
Continental  stores  with  great  quantities  of  stores 
absolutely  necessary  for  publick  service,  have  supplied 
several  other  necessary  businesses,  and  are  now,  by 
being  compelled  into  military  service,  upon  the  very 
point  of  dissolution.”®^ 

Prompt  action  was  taken  upon  the  last  memorial,  the 
congress  voting,  August  14,  to  exempt  from  military  ser¬ 
vice  the  master  workman  and  two  attendants  at  each  mill 
then  in  operation.  John  Holt,  who  joined  in  the  petition, 
was  a  famous  printer  of  the  revolutionary  period.  Erom 
New  Haven,  Conn.,  where  he  was  well  established,  he 
moved  to  New  York  and  in  that  city  published  The  Nezv 
York  Gazette  and  Post  Boy  and  The  Nezv  York  Journal. 

So  scarce  indeed  was  paper  in  New  York  at  that  time 
and  after,  that  even  the  civil  government  found  difficulty, 
sometimes  unsurmountable,  in  procuring  sufficient  for  its 
needs.  In  1779  Robert  Boyd  and  Samuel  Loudon  peti¬ 
tioned  the  legislature  “praying  permission  to  raise  Three 
Thousand  Pounds  by  Lottery  to  enable  them  to  erect  and 
carry  on  a  Paper-Mill.”  Apparently  this  project  was  not 
then  carried  out,  for,  twelve  years  later,  on  the  first  day  of 
the  meeting  of  the  legislature  in  1791,  Samuel  Loudon, 
who  was  then  the  state  printer,  sent  a  communication  to 
the  assembly  in  relation  to  the  procuring  of  paper  for 
printing  the  legislative  journals.  A  committee  appointed 
to  consider  the  subject  recommended  that  money  should 
be  raised  by  lottery  “to  encourage  the  making  of  paper  in 
the  state,”  and  a  bill  was  prepared  for  that  purpose.  Six 
reams  of  writing  paper  was  considered  the  utmost  allow¬ 
ance  possible  for  the  governor  and  legislature,  in  a  legis¬ 
lative  resolution  of  1781. 

Massachusetts  officially  manifested  similar  consideration 
for  the  welfare  of  the  mills.  In  1775  the  second  provincial 
congress  of  that  colony,  sitting  in  Watertown,  received  the. 


“Peter  Force:  American  Archives,  5th  Series,  I.,  p.  1510. 

51 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


petition  of  John  Boies  and  Hugh  McLean  that  four  ap¬ 
prentices  skilled  in  paper-making,  who  had  enlisted,  should 
be  discharged  from  the  service  that  they  might  return  to 
work  in  the  Milton  mill,  d'he  petition  and  the  answer  of 
the  congress  were  as  follows : 

“To  the  Honorable  the  Congress  of  the  Province 
of  Massachusetts  Bay  assembled  at  Watertown, 
the  petition  of  James  Boise  and  Hugh  McLean  of 
Milton  humbly  sheweth. 

“That  your  petitioners  carry  on  the  business  of 
manufacturing  paper  at  Milton  which  has  been 
deemed  of  great  utility  to  the  Public,  that  John 
Slater,  James  Calder,  William  Durant  and  William 
Pierce  now  inlisted  in  the  Provincial  Service  were 
all  of  them  apprentices  of  y®  petitioners,  and  have 
attained  to  so  great  a  knowledge  in  the  art  of  pa¬ 
per  making  that  their  attendance  in  the  business 
is  absolutely  necessary  to  its  being  carried  on.  That 
they  have  done  the  principal  part  of  the  work  and 
labor  at  your  petitioners  Mills  for  two  years  past ; 
and  unless  they  are  released  from  the  service  they 
are  now  in,  tis  impossible  for  your  petitioners  to 
continue  this  so  useful  and  necessary  branch  of 
American  Industry. 

“Wherefore  your  petitioners  pray  that  the  said 
John  Slater,  James  Calder,  William  Durant  and 
William  Pierce,  may  be,  by  order  of  this  Honorable 
Congress,  dismissed  as  soon  as  may  be,  from  the 
service  of  the  Provincial  Army.  And  y^  petitioners 
as  in  duty  bound  shall  ever  pray.” 

“In  Provincial  Congress,  May  16,  1775. 

“Resolved — that  the  prayer  of  the  within  petition 
— Be  so  far  granted,  that  considering  the  small 
number  of  persons  within  the  Colony  who  carry  on 
the  manufactory  of  paper,  and  the  great  Demand 
and  Necessity  of  that  article  for  the  use  of  said 
Colony,  that  the  petitioners  be  desired  to  apply  to 
General  Thomas,  that  he  may  order  the  within 
named  four  soldiers  to  serve  the  public  in  carrying 
on  the  manufactory  of  paper  at  the  said  petitioners 
paper  works  at  Milton.” 

At  a  meeting  of  the  committee  of  safety  of  the  same 


Public  Archives  of  Massachusetts,  liber  180,  folio  18.  Printed 
in  Albert  K.  Teele’s  History  of  Milton^  (1087),  p.  377. 

52 


A  PAPER  POVERTY 


congress,  in  May,  1775,  announcement  was  made  that  a 
prisoner  held  in  Worcester  was  a  capable  paper-maker; 
an  order  was  forthwith  issued  that  he  should  be  removed 
to  Milton  for  the  need  of  the  mill*  there.®® 

Frequently  during  the  war  the  patriots  were  so  short  of 
paper  for  purely  military  purposes  that  operations  were  in 
danger  of  being  seriously  hindered  on  that  account.  Paper, 
especially  that  suitable  for  cartridges,  was  seized  whenever 
the  emergency  arose.  In  March,  1778,  the  Pennsylvania 
council  of  safety,  then  in  session  in  Lancaster  county,  gave 
orders  to  Colonel  Andrew  Boyd  to  proceed  to  the  Willcox 
mill  in  Chester  county  and  seize  all  paper  there  and 
promptly  take  it  to  some  place  of  safety,  “as  it  is  probable 
that  the  enemy  will  counteract  the  design  unless  you  con¬ 
duct  yourself  with  great  secrecy  and  dispatch.”  It  is  to 
the  credit  of  those  who  were  responsible  for  this  war- 
measure  that  the  paper  thus  seized  was  receipted  for  and 
subsequently  paid  for. 

Printers’  and  publishers’  paper  stock,  used  and  unused, 
was  drawn  upon  and  a  great  deal  of  hot  shot  was  poured 
into  the  ranks  of  the  enemy  wrapped  in  equally  hot  ser¬ 
mons,  tracts  and  political  addresses  printed.  The  supply 
of  the  Ephrata  mill  was  often  availed  of  for  military  pur¬ 
poses.  The  story  is  told  that  a  few  days  before  the  battle 
on  the  Brandywine,  in  September,  1777,  messengers  from 
the  continental  army  were  sent  to  that  mill  for  paper  for 
cartridges.  No  paper  was  on  hand,  but  the  brothers  of  the 
community  gave  up  an  edition  of  Fox’s  Book  of  Martyrs 
which  happened  to  be  then  ready  for  the  bindery.  Also,  at 
Germantown,  the  printed  sheets  of  a  large  part  of  the  last 
edition  of  the  Saur  Bible,  1776,  were  confiscated  and  used 
for  the  same  purpose. 

Nor  were  these  the  only  instances  of  the  patriots  being 
forced  to  extreme  measures  to  supply  themselves  with 
cartridge  paper.  When  the  American  army  entered 
Philadelphia,  in  June,  1778,  there  was  need  for  paper  for 
that  purpose,  but  little  could  be  found  in  the  city.  In  this 

“  The  Journals  of  the  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts,  in 
1774  and  1775,  edition  of  1838,  pp.  228  and  549. 

53 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


emergency  about  twenty-five  hundred  copies  of  a  sermon 
upon  Defensive  War,  written  to  rouse  the  colonists  during 
the  French-Indian  war,  were  discovered  in  the  garret  of  a 
house  where  Benjamin  Franklin  had  previously  conducted 
his  printing  business.  These  were  seized  and  promptly 
turned  into  material  for  offensive  war,  as  cases  for  musket 
cartridges  for  the  troops  in  the  battle  of  Monmouth. 


Nath.vn  Sellers. 

Maker  of  Paper  Moulds  in  Pennsylvania  in  the  Revolution  Period. 

Scarcity  of  paper-making  machinery  added  to  the 
trouble.  Much  of  this  machinery  had  been  imported  from 
England  and  when  worn  out  could  not  be  replaced  easily. 
Moulds  especially  were  very  scarce  and  there  was  no  wire 
in  the  country  to  reface  them.  Here  and  there  was  a 
mechanic  who  could  make  moulds  but  he  was  a  rare  indi¬ 
vidual  whose  work  was  jealously  regarded.  One  such  was 

““  The  Historical  Magazine,  VIII.,  p.  151. 

54 


A  PAPER  POVERTY 


Nathan  Sellers  of  Darby,  Chester  county,  Pennsylvania. 
In  1776  he  abandoned  his  \vork  and  joined  the  continental 
army  in  New  Jersey.  The  paper-makers  who  were  de¬ 
pendent  upon  him  for  their  moulds  petitioned  congress 
praying  “that  Nathan  Sellers,  an  Associator  in  Colonel 
Paschall’s  battalion  and  who  has  marched  to  New  Jersey, 
may  be  ordered  to  return  home  and  make  and  prepare  suit¬ 
able  moulds,  washers  and  utinsels  for  carrying  on  the 
paper  manufactory.” 

Congress  recognized  the  urgency  of  the  situation  and 
when  the  petition  was  presented,  on  August  20,  1776,  it 
was  quickly  and  favorably  acted  upon.  Sellers  was  dis¬ 
charged  from  the  service  ten  days  later  and  returned  to 
his  work  at  home.  He  was  then  the  only  manufacturer  of 
moulds  in  the  country,  and  the  continental  authorities, 
holding  that  it  was  of  the  utmost  importance  to  keep  up  the 
paper  supply  as  well  as  could  be,  and  placing  much  de¬ 
pendence  upon  him,  engaged  him  for  a  time  to  make 
moulds  exclusively  for  the  government.  It  was  intended 
that  this  should  enable  the  mills  to  produce  more  promptly 
and  more  safely  the  proper  water-marked  paper  for  official 
purposes.  An  order  of  congress,  in  May  1778,  gives  evi¬ 
dence  of  this  special  employment  of  Sellers : 

“Ordered,  That  there  be  paid  to  Mr.  Nathan  Sellers, 
for  making  a  fine  paper  mould  to  manufacture  paper 
for  bills  of  exchange,  and  for  his  expences  coming  to 
York  town,  and  returning  home,  164  50/90  dollars.”''^ 

When  the  Pennsylvania  council  of  safety,  in  1778,  or¬ 
dered  Colonel  Boyd  to  seize  the  paper  in  the  Willcox  mill  it 
also  revealed  the  value  placed  upon  these  Seller’s  moulds 
by  advising  that  officer  that : 

“Mr.  Willcocks  has  in  his  possession  a  Mould  for 
making  paper  belonging  to  this  State,  which  I  re(|uest 
you  to  bring  away.  It  is  marked  with  the  word  Penn¬ 
sylvania  in  24  places.  He  did  promise,  if  the  enemy 
came  that  way,  he  would  throw  it  into  the  Mill 
Dam.”®* 


^'Papers  of  the  Continental  Congress,  No.  136,  II.,  folio  265. 
Journals  of  the  Continental  Congress,  XL,  p.  415. 

'^Pennsylvania  Archives,  1st  Series,  VI.,  p.  355. 

55 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


Sellers  was  of  a  family  that  for  several  generations  had 
been  engaged  in  wire  weaving  and  other  manufacturing 
of  like  character  at  the  homestead  known  as  Sellers’  Hall 
in  Darby  township.  He  belonged  to  the  Society  of  Friends, 
but  forfeited  his  membership  by  his  militant  activities  in 
the  revolution.  He  built  up  a  large  business  in  wire  weav¬ 
ing  and  mould  making,  establishing  himself  in  Philadel¬ 
phia  about  1779.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  sons  and  grand- 
.sons,  and  the  business  steadily  grew  in  importance  for 
more  than  half  a  century,  expanding  as  time  went  on  into 
the  manufacture  of  various  kinds  of  paper-making  ma¬ 
chinery  and  also  machines  for  iron  furnaces  and  rolling 
mills.  Nathan  Sellers  died  in  1830,  aged  eighty  years,  and 
his  son  and  intimate  business  associate,  Coleman  Sellers, 
survived  him  only  four  years.®® 

Paper  Trade  Journal,  October  16,  1897. 


56 


CHAPTER  FOUR 

EQUIPMENT  AND  RAW  MATERIAL 

Colonial  Paper  Was  All  Hand-Made — Machinery 
Unknown — Mills  Hampered  by  Difficulty  in 
Procuring  Raw  Materials — Newspapers  and 
Legislatures  Implored  People  to  Help  by  Saving 
Rags — The  Early  Methods  of  Manufacturing — 
Some  Prices  of  Paper  in  1729,  1780  and  1792 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  first  hundred  years 
of  its  existence,  American  paper-making  was 
indeed  a  feeble  industry.  Many  things  operated  to  its 
disadvantage,  cramping  its  efficiency,  curtailing  the  va¬ 
riety  and  amount  of  its  production  and  retarding  its  devel¬ 
opment.  For  at  least  fifty  years  after  Rittenhouse  began 
in  1690  the  mills  were  few  in  number,  small  and  meagrely 
equipped ;  capable  workmen  were  hard  to  find ;  machinery 
was  of  the  simplest  kind ;  methods  were  slow  and  crude. 

A  list  of  the  items  of  personal  property  in  a  lease  of 
Thomas  Brown  to  Thomas  Willcox  in  1732,  conveying  a 
half  interest  in  the  third  Pennsylvania  mill,  sufficiently 
shows  the  scant  equipment  available  at  that  time.  It  is 
particularly  interesting  when  considered  in  comparison 
with  what  constitutes  the  outfit  of  even  the  smallest  of 
modern  mills. 

“A  mortice  and  [hajmmers,  a  Vatt  and  Pott,  two 
Stuff  Tubbs,  a  Rag  knife  and  Block,  one  press  paper 
mould  and  a  pair  of  Shop  paper  moulds,  twenty-six 
fulling  paper  felts.  Seventy-seven  shop  paper  felts, 
two  press  paper  Planks  and  a  halting  plank,  two  Shop 
paper  Planks,  a  Press  and  Rag  wheel,  a  screw  and 
Box,  a  Glazeing  Engine,  two  pairing  knives,  two  little 

57 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


pails  with  iron  hoops,  one  smal  ads,  two  pairing 
frames — one  pairing  Bench,  three  cocks,  two  troughs, 
one  winch,  a  halfting  bench,  two  tressels,  a  Iron  Barr, 
six  posts  and  Eighteen  Rails  for  hanging  of  paper, 
one  hundred  polls  for  hanging  paper,  one  pad,  one 
pair  of  Stilliards,  a  Box  for  Paper  Hanging  stool,  one 
hundred  and  sixty  Tap  pots,  twenty  cogs  and  three 
washers.” 

Later  on  some  of  the  mills  were  more  pretentious  es¬ 
tablishments  though  still  infinitely  far  from  the  modern 
conception  of  what  constitutes  a  proper  plant.  The  prin¬ 
cipal  improvement  was  in  the  introduction  of  the  beating 
engine  which,  of  Holland  origin  about  1750,  gradually 
came  into  use  in  the  American  colonies  to  a  modified 
extent.  The  first  mill  in  central  Massachusetts,  built  by 
Abijah  Burbank  in  1775,  was  considered  one  of  the  best  in 
the  country. 

“It  was  a  two-vat  mill.  A  breast-wheel  twelve  feet 
in  diameter  furnished  the  power  to  drive  the  greatest 
portion  of  the  machinery  in  the  mill,  which  was  com¬ 
posed  of  two  engines  with  rolls  two  feet  in  length  and 
twenty-six  inches  in  diameter,  one  duster  and  a  grind¬ 
stone  with  which  to  sharpen  the  bed-plates  to  the  en¬ 
gine.  The  rags  were  cut  by  hand  on  a  scythe  fixed 
in  a  post,  or  a  long  knife,  and  five  men  with  ten  or 
twelve  girls  made  up  the  required  quota  of  help.  By 
running  the  two  engines  to  their  full  capacity,  the 
accustomed  fifteen  hours  per  day,  they  were  able  to 
turn  out  from  two  hundred  and  thirty  to  two  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds  of  paper  daily  or  about  one  thousand 
five  hundred  pounds  per  week.” 

The  equipment  of  a  really  first-class  mill  toward  the  close 
of  the  eighteenth  century  is  shown  in  a  description  con¬ 
tained  in  the  inventory  of  the  mill  erected  in  1789,  in  An¬ 
dover,  Mass.,  as  follows : 

“A  building  occuihed  as  a  Paper  Mill,  36  by  32 
feet,  with  two  vats  ui)on  the  ground  floor,  which  have 
a  Cast  Iron  pot  in  each  of  them,  sunk  into  Brick 
chimneys,  for  heating  the  vats.  The  first  floor  has 


""  Joscpli  Willcox  :  Ivy  ]\Iills  i72()-iS66,  p  6 
K.  1).  Crane;  Early  Paper  Mills  in  Massachusetts:  In  Collec¬ 
tions  of  the  Worcester  Society  of  Antiquity,  VII.,  p.  121. 

58 


EQUIPMENT  AND  RAW  MATERIAL 


two  engines  for  beating-stnff,  a  room  for  dressing 
rags,  witli  a  brick  cbiinney  and  fire  place,  also  two 
other  rooms  for  rags.  The  second  floor  is  occupied 
for  a  Rag  ware-house. 

“Another  building  connected  to  the  mill  by  a  cov¬ 
ered  passage  way  of  20  ft.  long,  used  for  drying  and 
keeping  paper  before  finished,  20  by  24  feet,  at  the 
end  next  the  mill ;  a  part  of  the  drying-house  is  taken 
off  for  a  finishing  room,  27  by  24  feet,  in  which  is  a 
cast  iron  stove  used  in  the  winter  season.  At  one 
side  of  the  finishing-room  is  a  sizing  copper  set  with 
bricks  and  brick  chimney.  Another  building  35  feet 
from  the  mill,  that  is  24  ft.  by  20,  for  Rags  and  fin¬ 
ished  paper.  Another  building,  131  feet  from  the 
mill,  20  X  13  ft.,  for  Rope  and  other  lumber.”^^ 

The  first  mill  in  western  Pennsylvania,  that  of  Jackson 
&  Sharpless  in  1796,  was  regarded  as  an  extraordinarily 
imposing  establishment,  described  by  a  local  newspaper  as 
“very  capacious,”  The  mill  building  was  about  seventy- 
five  by  forty  feet,  three  stories  high,  and  the  entire  plant, 
which  included  a  blacksmith  shop,  machinery  and  work¬ 
men’s  houses,  represented  an  investment  of  six  thousand 
dollars. 

A  curious  and  exceedingly  interesting  chapter  in  this 
history  of  early  paper-making  in  America  is  that  which 
treats  of  the  persistent  and  not  always  successful  struggle 
for  raw  material  to  keep  the  mills  going.  Rags  then  con¬ 
stituted  the  essential  fundamental  for  the  industry.  Ex¬ 
periments  had  been  made  with  other  materials,  but  nothing 
had  been  discovered  as  an  available  substitute.  And  yet 
rags  were  not  plentiful  and,  for  more  than  a  hundred 
years,  the  existence  of  the  industry  was  constantly  imper¬ 
iled  by  this  scarcity.  The  population  of  the  country  was 
not  large,  and  it  was  scattered.  Clothing  was  not  dis¬ 
carded  until  after  careful  and  long-wearing,  for  the  coL 
onists  were  poor  and  the  climatic  conditions  bore  severely 
upon  them.  In  the  absence  of  any  incentive  to  saving,  the 
rag-bag  had  not  become  a  common  adjunct  to  the  house¬ 
hold. 

After  paper-making  began,  a  long  and  tedious  process 

"Sarah  Loring  Bailey:  Historical  Sketches  of  Andover,  p.  583 

59 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


of  education  was  necessary  before  the  people  generally 
could  fully  realize  that  this  new  use  for  old  things  hitherto 
thrown  away  rendered  the  habitual  keeping  of  them  worth 
while  to  families  and  of  public  advantage.  In  adver¬ 
tisements  that  appealed  to  patriotism  and  pocketbook 
newspapers  implored  this  saving  and  legislative  bodies 
urged  the  common  need  in  frequent  resolutions.  The 
state  of  mind  of  those  who  had  the  general  welfare  most 
in  view  is  shown  by  the  way  in  which  editors  and  legis¬ 
lators  steadily  emphasized  the  importance  of  rag  saving. 
This  emphasis  was  even  exhibited  in  the  typography  of  the 
advertisements  and  legislative  records,  for  the  word 
RAGS  was  always  capitalized  or  set  in  large  letters ;  in 
this  respect  it  had  the  same  typographic  distinction  that 
was  given,  for  example,  to  Queen,  or  King,  or  President, 
or  Parliament,  or  Congress.  One  newspaper  expressed 
the  fervent  hope  that  every  man  would  say  to  his  wife, 
“Molly,  make  a  rag-bag  and  hang  it  under  the  shelf  where 
the  big  Bible  lies.’’  Another  wished  that  every  child  should 
be  taught  his  “rag  lesson.’’ 

Specific  instances  of  these  advertisements  and  legislative 
enactments  sufficiently  demonstrate  the  importance  that 
was  attached  to  the  encouragement  of  the  industry  in  this 
respect.  An  early  advertisement  in  The  New  York  Gaz¬ 
ette  and  Mercury,  of  which  Hugh  Gaine  was  the  publisher, 
establishes  the  interest  which  that  printer  had  in  the  first 
mill  in  the  New  York  colony  and  also  reveals  the  diffi¬ 
culty  which  this  mill,  in  common  with  all  others,  exper¬ 
ienced  in  the  shortage  of  raw  material. 

“The  printer  of  this  paper,  in  conjunction  with  two 
of  his  friends  [Hendrick  Onderdonk  and  Henry 
Remsen],  having  lately  erected  a  PAPER  MILL  at 
Hempstead  Harbour  on  Long-Island  at  a  very  great 
expense,  the  existence  of  which  entirely  depends  on 
a  supply  of  RAGS  which  at  present  are  very  much 
wanted ;  he  therefore  most  humbly  entreats  the  as¬ 
sistance  of  the  good  people  of  this  province,  and  city 
in  particular,  to  assist  him  in  the  undertaking,  which, 
if  attended  with  success,  will  be  a  saving  of  some 
hundreds  per  annum  to  the  colony,  which  has  been 
constantly  sent  out  of  it  for  Paper  of  all  sorts,  the 

60 


EQUIPMENT  AND  RAW  MATERIAL 


manufacturing  of  which  has«but  very  lately  originated 
here;  but  should  the  public  countenance  the  same  it 
is  more  than  probable  that  branch  will  be  brought 
to  considerable  perfection  in  this  place.  The  highest 
price  will  therefore  be  given  for  all  sorts  of  Linen 
Rags,  by  the  Public’s  Humble  Servant,  HUGH 
GAINE.”^^ 

Another  advertisement,  thirty  years  later, — a  reproduc¬ 
tion  of  which  from  the  columns  of  that  newspaper  is  given 
herewith, — showed  that  the  printer  and  his  paper-mill  were 


^  READYMONEY  % 

4  For  Clean  LINEN  RAGS,# 

^  May  be  had  from  H.  GAlNE.  ^ 

^  A  nd  tor  ihe  tiirther  Encouragement  of  fucb  poor  Per-  ^ 
^  Jt\.  iOi« as  ar.*  willing  to  themfelves  in  procuring  ^ 

k  aGS,  the  toJIowing  EMiUMs  wtli  he  given,  ^ 

y  To  the  Pcrlon  that  delivers  the  greateit  Quantity  of 
jk  good  clem  dry  Tinen'Rags  to  H.  Gaine,  in  the  Year  1765,  ^ 
^  not  lets  than  looolb.  TEN  DOLLARS,  befides  being 
^  paid  the  full  Value  of  the  Rags.  ^ 

%  To  the  PeVlbn  that  delivers  the  ftcond  greateff  J 

^  tity  of  Rags,  of  the  fame  Kind,  not  lefs  than  Soolb.  in  Sf 
^  the  Year  1765.  EIGHT  DOLLARS.  ^ 

&  To  the  Perfon  that  delivers  the  third  greateft  Quantity  ^ 

5  of  Rags,  of  the  fame  ifcind  iikewile,  in  the  Year  1765,  s 

6  FIVE  DOLLARS.  ^ 

3  A  Book  wtU  be  kept  to  enter  the  Names  of  all  fuch  Per-  ^ 
y  fons,  as  briny  Rags,  and  the  Quantity  they  deliver  j  and^ 
5  the  Premiums  will  be  paid  the  fi)  ft  Day  of  the  Year  1766,  £ 
«  by  H.  GAINE.  M 


still  struggling  with  the  same  problem  that  had  long  before 
been  pressing  for  solution.'^® 

The  first  mill  in  Massachusetts  enlisted  the  assistance 
of  the  first  colonial  newspaper  in  this  search  for  rags. 
Probably  the  newspaper  looked  to  the  mill  for  its  paper 
and  so  the  two  were  in  a  measure  interdependent.  This 
is  the  advertisement  that  the  Boston  newspaper  published : 

“Advertisement. — The  Bell  Cart  will  go  through 

'■  The  New  York  Mercury,  Octobe,  4  and  11,  1733. 

”  The  New  York  Mercury,  January  7,  1765. 

61 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


Boston,  before  the  end  of  next  month,  to  collect  Rags 
for  the  Paper  Mills  at  Milton,  when  all  people  that 
will  encourage  the  Paper  IManufacture  may  dis¬ 
pose  of  them.  They  are  taken  in  at  Mr  Caleb  Davis’s 
Shop  at  the  Fortification.  Mr  Andrew  Gillespie’s 
near  Dr  Clarke’s :  Mr  Andras  Randal’s  near  Philip’s 
Wharf :  and  i\Ir  John  Boris’s  in  Long  Lane :  Mr 
Frothingham’s  in  Charlestown,  Mr.  Edson’s  in  Salem, 
Mr  John  Harris  in  Newbury,  Mr  Daniel  Fowle’s  in 
Portsmouth,  and  the  Paper-Liill  at  Milton.” 

“Rags  are  as  beauties  that  concealed  lie, 

But  when  as  paper,  how  they  charm  the  eye ; 

Pray  save  your  rags,  new  beauties  to  discover. 
For  paper  truly  every  one’s  a  lover. 

By  Pen  and  Press  such  knowledge  is  displayed 
As  wouldn’t  exist,  if  Paper  was  not  made. 
Wisdom  of  things,  mysterious,  divine. 
Illustriously  doth  on  Paper  shine.” 

When  the  first  provincial  congress  in  Massachusetts 
met  in  Salem  in  1774  the  committee  on  manufactures  re¬ 
ported  the  necessity  of  encouraging  the  making  of  paper, 
and  the  convention  voted : 

“That  as  several  paper  mills  are  now  usefully  em¬ 
ployed,  we  do  likewise  recommend  a  preferable  use 
of  our  own  manufactures  in  this  way;  and  a  careful 
saving  and  collecting  of  rags,  &c.  And  also  that  the 
manufacturers  will  give  a  generous  price  for  such 
rags,  &c.”^® 

A  year  later  the  proprietors  of  the  Milton  mill  memo¬ 
rialized  the  provincial  congress  that  they  were  not  able  to 
get  sufficient  quantity  of  rags  even  though  they  had  raised 
the  price  that  they  were  willing  to  pay.  Accordingly  the 
second  congress,  at  its  session  in  February,  1775,  at  Cam¬ 
bridge,  Mass.,  took  action  as  follows  : 

“Therefore.  Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended, 
and  it  is  by  this  Congress  accordingly  recommended, 
to  every  family  in  this  province,  to  preserve  all  their 
linen,  and  cotton  and  linen  rags,  in  order  that  a  man¬ 
ufacture  so  useful  and  advantageous  to  this  country, 

”  The  Boston  Neios-Lettcr,  March  J  and  23,  1769. 

”  The  Journals  of  the  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts  in 
and  I775,  edition  of  1838,  p.  64, 

62 


EQUIPMENT  AND  RAW  MATERIAL 


may  be  suitably  encouraged ;  and  it  is  also  recom¬ 
mended  to  our  several  towns,  to  take  such  further 
measures  for  the  encouragement  of  the  manufacture 
aforesaid,  as  they  shall  think  proper.”^® 

Then,  in  February  1776,  the  Massachusetts  house  of 
representatives,  the  council  concurring,  took  this  action 
on  the  rag  situation: 

“Whereas,  this  Colony  cannot  be  supplied  with  a 
sufficient  quantity  of  Paper  for  its  own  consumption, 
without  the  particular  care  of  its  Inhabitants  in  sav¬ 
ing  Rags  for  the  Paper-Mills : 

“Therefore,  Resolved,  that  the  Committees  of  Cor¬ 
respondence,  Inspection  and  Safety,  in  the  several 
Towns  in  this  Colony,  be,  and  they  hereby  are  re¬ 
quired  immediately,  to  appoint  some  suitable  person, 
in  their  respective  towns,  (where  it  is  not  already 
done),  to  receive  in  Rags  for  the  Paper-Mills;  and 
the  Inhabitants  of  this  Colony  are  hereby  desired  to 
be  very  careful  in  saving  even  the  smallest  quantities 
of  Rags  proper  for  making  Paper,  which  will  be  a 
further  evidence  of  their  disposition  to  promote  the 
public  good.”'^ 

The  mill  in  Sutton,  Mass.,  upon  which  the  printers  of 
the  central  part  of  the  state  almost  entirely  depended 
during  the  revolution,  was  in  similar  straits  and  appealed 
to  the  patriotism  of  the  ladies  for  help. 

“It  is  earnestly  requested  that  the  fair  daughters 
of  Liberty  in  this  extensive  country  would  not  neglect 
to  serve  their  country  by  saving,  for  the  Paper  Mill 
in  Sutton,  all  Linen  and  Cotton-and-Linen  Rags,  be 
they  ever  so  small,  as  they  are  equally  good  for  the 
purpose  of  making  paper  as  those  that  are  larger. 
A  bag  hung  up  at  one  corner  of  a  room  would  be  the 
means  of  saving  many  which  would  be  otherwise  lost. 
If  the  ladies  should  not  make  a  fortune  by  that  piece 
of  economy,  they  will  at  least  have  the  satisfaction 
of  knowing  that  they  are  doing  an  essential  service 
to  the  community,  which  with  eight  pence  per  pound, 

”  The  Journals  of  the  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts  in 
1774  and  1775,  edition  of  1838,  p.  94. 

”  Peter  Force:  American  Archives,  4th  Series,  IV.,  pp.  1308  and 

1455. 


63 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


the  price  now  given  for  clean  white  rags,  they  must  be 
sensible  will  be  a  sufficient  reward.” 

Not  less  alert  than  the  patriots  of  Massachusetts  were 
those  of  Pennsylvania.  The  records  show  how,  in  January 
1776,  the  committee  of  safety  in  that  colony  urged  the 
printers  to  help  the  paper-mills  : 

“By  Order  of  the  Board  the  following  Advertise¬ 
ments  were  sent  to  Messrs.  Hall  &  Sellers,  and 
Messrs.  Bradfords,  and  the  other  Printers  of  this  city, 
requesting  them  to  publish  them  in  their  next  Papers ; 

“As  Rags  and  Lint  are  essentially  necessary  for 
the  publick  service,  this  Committee  most  earnestly  re¬ 
quest  the  inhabitants  of  this  City  to  collect  what  old 
Linnen  they  have,  and  can  spare ;  and,  in  the  course 
of  next  week,  persons,  properly  authorized  under  the 
hand  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Committee,  will  call  at 
their  houses  to  receive.” 

Even  the  dignified  and  aristocratic  American  Philoso¬ 
phical  Society  of  Philadelphia,  founded  largely  through 
the  instrumentality  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  felt  constrained 
to  give  attention  to  the  subject.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
society,  March  5,  1773,  a  committee  was  appointed  “to 
confer  with  such  persons  in  this  City  as  are  concerned  in 
the  Paper  Manufactory  on  the  most  probable  Means  of 
firmly  establishing  that  branch  of  business  amongst  us.” 
At  the  meeting  of  the  society  on  March  19  following: 

“Robert  Bell  waited  upon  the  Society  this  Evening 
with  a  plan  for  encouraging  the  Undertaking. 
Adopted,  with  a  few  alterations,  and  ordered  to  be 
published  in  the  several  Newspapers  of  this  City. 
The  Money  to  be  paid  in  Premiums  is  subscribed  by 
Messrs.  Crukshank,  Dunlap,  Hall,  Bell  &  Humphreys, 
&  Mr.  Bell  engages  to  collect  it  whenever  the  Society 
pleases,  as  will  more  fully  appear  by  the  Subscription 
Paper  delivered  by  order  of  the  Society,  to  the  Treas¬ 
urer.” 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  of  the  society  a  further  en- 


”  The  Massachusetts  Spy,  November  26,  1778. 

”  Peter  Force:  American  Archives,  4th  Series,  IV.,  p.  1562. 

’*  Early  Proceedings  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  p.  78. 
In  Vol.  XXII  of  Proceedings. 


64 


EQUIPMENT  AND  RAW  MATERIAL 

_ 

dorsement  was  given.  The  plan,  thus  impressively  pro¬ 
claimed,  was  simple  enough,  as  it  was  finally  disclosed  in 
the  announcement  in  the  newspapers;  the  now  familiar  ap¬ 
peal  for  rags.  This  was  the  advertisement:®^ 

The  American  Philosophical  Society,  taking 
into  consideration  the  state  of  the  Paper 
Manufactory  in  this  province,  find  the  only 
obstacle  to  its  being  improved  and  greatly  extended, 
is  the  want  of  a  sufficient  quantity  of  Linen  Rags; 
that  this  want  proceeds  principally  from  the  persons 
who  have  the  greatest  opportunity  of  saving  them,  not 
properly  considering  their  usefulness,  but  frequently 
burning  or  otherwise  destroying  them,  when,  with  a 
very  little  trouble,  they  might  be  preserved,  and  be¬ 
come  the  means  of  affording  employment  to  a  number 
of  useful  persons,  besides  the  advantage  of  saving 
large  sums  of  money  in  America,  which  are  now 
Annually  sent  to  Europe  to  purchase  paper.  The 
Society  therefore  request  the  Masters  and  Mistresses 
of  families  to  promote  the  saving  Rags  in  their  houses, 
and  as  a  farther  encouragement  than  the  price  of  rags 
will  bring,  propose  to  give  the  following  Premiums  : 
To  any  person  who  shall  save,  in  one  family, 
the  greatest  quantity  of  Linen  Rags  (and 
sell  the  same  for  the  purpose  of  making 
White  Paper  in  this  province)  before  the 

first  day  of  May,  1774,  . £5  0  0 

To  any  person  who  shall  save  and  sell  as 

aforesaid  the  next  greatest  quantity, ....  3  00 

For  the  third  greatest  quantity, .  2  00 

For  the  fourth  greatest  quantity, .  1  00 

For  the  fifth  greatest  quantity, .  0  10  0 

A  number  of  persons  having  at  times  employed 
themselves  in  collecting  Linen  Rags  for  the  Paper 
Mills,  in  order  to  excite  them  to  greater  diligence, 
the  following  Premiums  are  offered.  To  any  person 
who  shall,  before  the 

first  day  of  May,  1774,  collect  the  greatest  quan¬ 
tity  of  Linen  Rags,  suitable  for  making  White 
Paper,  and  sell  the  same  for  that  purpose  in  this 


Province  .  £5  0  0 

To  any  person  who  shall  collect,  and  sell  as 

aforesaid,  the  next  greatest  quantity. . .  3  0  0 

For  the  third  greatest  quantity .  2  00 


“  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  March  31,  1773. 

65 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


For  the  fourth  greatest  quantity .  1  00 

For  the  fifth  greatest  quantity .  0  10  0 


Ready  money,  and  the  usual  Price,  for  any  quantity 
of  Clean  Linen  Rags,  may  be  had  of  John  Dunlap, 
Printer,  in  Market-street,  or  Joseph  Crukshank, 
in  Third-street  opposite  the  Work-house,  Phila. 

Certificates  of  the  quantity  of  Rags  sold  each 
month,  quarter,  or  as  may  best  suit  the  seller,  from 
the  persons  who  are  purchasers,  will  be  deemed  the 
same  as  if  they  were  all  sold  at  one  time. 

By  order  of  the  Society  ■ 

Robert  Strettell  Jones,  Sec.” 

The  proprietors  of  a  mill  in  North  Carolina  went  even 
beyond  their  northern  contemporaries  in  the  fervor  of  ap¬ 
peal  for  rags.  Not  content  to  rest  alone  upon  the  argu¬ 
ment  of  patriotism  and  self-interest  they  animated  their 
plea  with  a  flavor  of  delicate  romance,  showing  that,  to 
them,  business  had  something  more  than  a  merely  sordid, 
material  side.  Their  advertisement  read : 

“By  our  unhappy  Contest  with  Great  Britain,  and 
the  Necessary  Restrictions  on  our  Trade,  Paper  has 
been  an  Article  for  which  we,  in  this  State,  have  much 
suffered,  for  though  there  are  many  Paper  Mills  in 
the  Northern  Colonies,  where  Paper  is  made  in  great 
Perfection,  yet,  by  the  Interruption  of  the  Colony 
Trade  by  Water,  the  Southern  Colonies  have  experi¬ 
enced  a  very  great  Scarcity  of  that  necessary  Article. 
To  remedy  this  Evil  and  throw  in  their  Mite  towards 
the  Perfection  of  American  Manufactures,  the  Pro¬ 
prietors  of  a  Paper  Mill  just  erected  near  Hills¬ 
borough,  in  Orange  County,  give  Notice  to  the  Public, 
that  their  Mill  is  now  ready  to  work,  and  if  a  suffi¬ 
cient  Quantity  of  Rags  can  be  had,  they  will  be  able 
to  supply  the  State  with  all  Sorts  of  Paper.  They 
therefore  request  the  favour  of  the  Public,  and  more 
particularly  the  Mistresses  of  Families,  and  the  Ladies 
in  general,  whose  more  peculiar  Province,  it  is,  to 
have  all  their  Rags  and  scraps  of  Linen  of  all  Sorts ; 
old  Thread  Stockings.  Thrums  from  their  Linen 
Looms  and  every  kind  of  Linen,  is  useful.  As  this 
Undertaking  is  Novel,  saving  of  Rags  may  perhaps 
be  thought  too  trifling,  and  below  the  Notice  of  the 
good  Matrons  of  the  State;  but  when  they  consider 
they  are  aiding  and  assisting  in  a  necessary  Manu¬ 
facture,  and  when  the  young  Ladies  are  assured,  that 


66 


EQUIPMENT  AND  ‘RAW  MATERIAL 


by  the  sending  to  the  Paper  Mill  an  old  Handkerchief, 
no  longer  fit  to  cover  their  snowy  Breasts,  there  is  a 
Possibility  of  its  returning  to  them  again  in  the  more 
pleasing  form  of  a  Billet  Doux  from  their  Lovers,  the 
Proprietors  flatter  themselves  with  great  Success. 
Persons  in  the  several  Towns  and  Counties  in  the 
State  will  be  appointed  to  receive  Rags,  for  which  a 
good  Price  will  be  given. 

When  the  first  mill  was  started  in  the  western  part  of 
Pennsylvania,  the  usual  newspaper  notice  was  printed  and 
the  people  were  called  upon  to  help  the  enterprise,  the 
dominant  note  in  the  announcement  being  the  customary 
entreaty  for  rags. 

“The  advantages  accruing  to  our  community  from 
this  addition  to  its  manufacture  will  be  very  great,  and 
it  behooves  every  well-wisher  to  the  community  to 
contribute  his  mite  toward  the  supporting  it.  It  can¬ 
not  be  carried  on  without  a  supply  of  rags.  Of  these 
every  family  can  supply  more  or  less,  and  there  will 
be  stores  in  every  town  and  various  parts  of  the 
country  ready  to  receive  them.  Every  patriotic  family 
then  will  doubtless  cause  all  their  rags  to  be  preserved 
and  forwarded  to  some  place  where  they  are  collected, 
not  so  much  for  the  pecuniary  advantage  to  be  derived 
from  them  as  for  the  pleasure  arising  from  having 
deserved  well  of  their  country.  We  shall  shortly  be 
furnished  with  a  list  of  such  store-keepers  as  can 
make  it  convenient  to  receive  them,  and  shall  then 
announce  their  names  to  the  public.”®® 

Advertisements  in  the  newspapers  of  Albany,  N.  Y., 
before  1790,  called  attention  to  a  mill  in  Bennington,  Vt., 
and  urged  the  need  of  rags  for  its  maintenance.  Ladies 
were  invited  to  visit  the  mill  and  witness  the  process  of 
paper-making  so  that  they  might  thereby  be  influenced  to 
save  rags.  Postmaster  Buel  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  joined  in  the 
appeal  and  offered  to  help  by  receiving  rags  at  his  store. 
At  one  time  this  mill  depended  a  great  deal  upon  the  cast¬ 
off  clothing  of  the  Indians  and  it  is  believed  that  the 

"^Walter  Clark:  The  State  Records  of  North  Carolina,  XL, 
p.  804.  The  North  Carolina  Gazette,  November  14,  1777. 

The  Western  Telegraphe  and  Washington  Advertiser,  January 
12,  1796. 


67 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


aborigines  were  persuaded  in  many  specious  ways,  not 
always  honest,  to  give  up  their  clothing  sometimes  before 
it  had  really  reached  the  rag  condition.®* 

Primitive  methods  only  were  applied  in  the  processes  of 
the  early  mills.  All  work  was  by  hand.  For  preparing 
pulp  there  were  big  stone  or  iron  vats  or  mortars ;  few 


Interior  View  of  Early  Mill  for  Hand-made  Paper. 

mills  had  more  than  two  vats  and  many  had  only  one.  In 
these  vats,  filled  with  water,  the  rags  were  beaten  to  a  pulp 

“John  Woodworth:  Reminiscences  of  Troy,  p.  46. 

In  amusing  contrast  with  this  condition  of  things  and  showing 
some  of  the  changes  that  a  century  had  brought  about  was  a  state¬ 
ment  in  the  California  State  Register  for  1859  where  the  existence 
of  a  paper  mill  in  Marin  county,  that  state,  was  mentioned  as  turn¬ 
ing  out  six  tons  of  paper  per  week,  seemingly  a  remarkable  per¬ 
formance.  And  one  of  the  great  benefits  ascribed  to  this  enter¬ 
prise  was  the  “clearing  out  of  the  cast-off  garments  which  for 
years  have  carpeted  the  streets  of  San  Francisco  and  every  city 
and  town  in  the  state.” 


68 


EQUIPMENT  AND  RAW  MATERIAL 


by  heavy  hammers  wielded  by  hand.  From  the  vats  the 
pulp  was  ladled  into  rectangular  moulds  made  with  wire- 
cloth  strainers  and  deckles.  As  the  pulp  was  flowed  into 
these  moulds  the  thin  sheets  were  interlayed  with  sheets 
of  felting  cloth.  Heavy  pressure  was  then  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  mass,  to  squeeze  out  the  water  and  further 
to  flatten  the  sheets  of  pulp  into  sheets  of  paper.  Then 
the  sheets  were  taken  out  one  by  one  and  hung  on  poles 
to  dry  in  sheds  or  rooms  open  to  free  currents  of  air. 

As  far  as  possible  the  white  rags  were  set  apart  for  the 
making  of  the  better  qualities  of  paper,  but  a  general  and 
careful  sorting  of  these  raw  materials  so  as  to  keep  those 
of  different  colors  and  qualities  entirely  separate  was  not 
always  practicable.  Accordingly,  for  a  considerable  part, 
all  went  into  the  vats  together  and  the  natural  result  was 
a  pulp  of  a  dirty  white  or  brownish  color.  No  means  were 
used  to  correct  this  color  condition  either  before  or  after 
the  formation  of  the  sheet  and  no  practical  method  of 
bleaching  was  known.  Purifying  or  clearing  the  water 
used  in  the  pulp  process  does  not  seem  to  have  been  even 
considered  necessary  and  the  water  was  clear  and  pure 
only  as  it  might  so  come  in  its  natural  state  from  its  nat¬ 
ural  sources.  A  desire  to  have  this  water  supply  as  clean 
as  possible,  existed,  however,  and  mill  sites  were  selected 
not  alone  from  considerations  of  water  power,  but  as  well 
where  clean  water  could  be  assured.  Few  streams  were 
then  contaminated,  for  defilement  by  sewage  and  chemical 
and  other  refuse  was  as  yet  unknown. 

No  method  had  been  devised  for  producing  a  smooth 
surface  beyond  what  might  come  from  heavy  pressure.  So 
the  paper  went  into  the  market  unbleached  and  uncalen¬ 
dered,  and  the  peculiar  dark — brown  or  gray— color  and 
sometimes  mottled  hue,  seen  in  some  of  the  books  and 
newspapers  of  the  period,  is  thus  accounted  for.  Os- 
casionally  artificial  coloring  matter,  most  frequently  blue, 
was  introduced  into  the  pulp  and  a  bluish  writing  or  print¬ 
ing  paper  produced.  Newspapers  were  from  time  to  time 
printed  on  paper  of  this  color.®®  The  pulp  engine  from 

The  Connecticut  Courant,  1775. 

69 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


Holland  was  introduced  about  1760  but  did  not  come  to 
general  use  until  long  after  that  date.  It  was  well  into  the 
next  century  before  other  machinery  of  importance  ap¬ 
peared. 

In  spite  of  all  these  drawbacks  improvements  were  made 
in  the  tools  used,  in  the  treatment  of  the  raw  materials  and 
in  methods  of  manufacture.  Naturally  these  improve¬ 
ments  were  not  of  great  importance  but  they  did  assist  in 
developing  the  industry  and  improving  the  character  of 
the  product.  On  this  point  it  has  been  remarked : 

“The  improvement  in  paper  making,  at  Willcox’s 
and  other  mills  in  Pennsylvania,  were  principally 
owing  to  an  Englishman  named  John  Readen.  He 
was  a  man  of  great  personal  ingenuity ;  and  a  first 
rate  workman.  He  had  indentured  himself  to  the 
master  of  the  vessel  who  brought  him  from  Europe. 
Willcox  redeemed  him,  and  employed  him  several 
years.  He  died  in  1806,  aged  sixty.”®* 

That  statement  is  true  in  a  small  measure  only.  Others 
contributed  to  improvements  in  tools  and  processes  even 
more  than  John  Readen.  Most  notably  was  this  so,  first  of 
such  men  as  William,  Claus  and  Jacob  Rittenhouse ;  Wil¬ 
liam  De  Wees,  Thomas  and  Mark  Willcox,  and  Christopher 
Saur,  father  and  son ;  and  then  of  those  who  came  on 
in  later  times,  particularly  in  Pennsylvania  and  Massa¬ 
chusetts.  These-  were  proprietors  of  mills  but  primarily 
they  were  trained  paper-makers  and  quite  as  much 
to  them — to  say  no  more — as  to  any  of  their  employees, 
credit  is  due  for  improvements  that  enabled  paper-manu¬ 
facturing  to  develop  in  the  first  century  of  its  existence. 

Prices  that  prevailed  have  been  preserved  in  many  mer¬ 
chant  accounts  of  those  days.  There  is  a  statement  of 
account  between  Andrew  Bradford  and  Claus  Rittenhouse 
of  Philadelphia,  dated  June  27,  1729.  Rittenhouse  is 
charged  with  various  items,  including  seven  hundred  and 
ten  pounds  of  rags,  i4,  8s,  9d,  and  he  is  credited  with  paper 
sold  from  his  mill  to  Bradford,  as  follows:®^ 

Isaiah  Thomas :  History  of  Printing  in  America,  I.,  p.  24. 

”  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography,  XII.,  p.  370. 

70 


EQUIPMENT  AND  RAW  MATERIAL 


1729  June  27  By  36  lb  press  Papers  at 

9“ . £2  2  0 

July  3  By  1  Ream  writing  paper 

at  14.  By  3j4  Reams 
Printing  paper  at  7/6  2  0  3 
12  By  Reams  Brown  pa¬ 
per  at  4/6.  By  2j4 
Reams  printing  paper 
at  7/6  By  45  lbs  press 
paper  at  9“*  per  lb  By 
2  Reams  of  writing  at 


14/  .  4  19  9 

17  By  3  Reams  Large  print¬ 
ing  paper  at  10/ .  1  10  0 

22  By  Ipa  Reams  printing 

Large  at  7/6 .  0  10  9 

August  14  By  11  Reams  printing  pa¬ 
per  at  7/6  .  0  10  9 

23  By  14  Yz  lb  Fine  press  pa¬ 

pers  at  lU! .  4  2  6 

Septem*’'  6  By  7  Reams  of  Brown 

paper  at  4/6  .  0  13  3 

20  By  5Y  Reams  of  printing 

paper  at  7/6  .  1  11  6 

22  By  30  lb  press  papers  at 
IF  By  20  pound  press 

papers  at  10* .  3  8  0 

27  By  15  lb  of  press  papers 

at  By  3  lb  Coarse  at  1  10  5 
October  18  By  16  lb  Paist  Board  at 
By  a  Ream  of  writ¬ 
ing  paper  .  0  12  0 

25  By  86j4  lb  Bonet  paper  at 
9“*  By  a  Ream  of 

Brown  .  3  11  lOj^ 

November  17  By  3  Reams  writing  at  14 
By  2  Reams  Brown 

4/6 .  2  6  6 

December  3  By  42j^  lb  paist  Board  at 
7"*  By  2  Reams  of 
Brown  paper  at  4/6 
By  1  Ream  printing.  .246 
11  By  2  Reams  Brown  paper 

at  4/6 .  0  7  6 

20  By  3j4  Reams  Brown  pa¬ 
per  at  4/6  By  1  Ream 
writing  paper  .  1  9  0 

71 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


January  17  By  5  Reams  Brown  paper 

at  4/6 .  1  2  6 

March  6  By  5  Reams  Brown  paper 
at  4/6  By  Reams 
Printing  paper  at  7/6  2  1  3 

1730  April  6  By  1/2  Ream  writing  at  14  0  7  0 

£36  12  3 

In  Massachusetts,  toward  the  end  of  the  century,  the 
mills  usually  had  two  vats  and  employed  ten  men  and  as 
many  boys  and  girls.  The  annual  product  was  about  seventy 
thousand  reams  of  writing,  printing  and  wrapping  paper. 
A  two-vat  mill  required  a  capital  of  about  $10,000  and 
its  capacity  of  production  annually  was  from  two  to  three 
thousand  reams  of  all  kinds.  Printing  paper  then  com¬ 
manded  a  price  of  from  three  to  three  and  a  half  dollars 
per  ream  and  considerable  had  to  be  carried  in  reserve  for 
customers.  The  mill  in  Andover,  according  to  the  testi¬ 
mony  of  one  of  its  owners,  a  year  after  it  had  started  in 
1791,  was  carrying  stock  “in  paper  of  different  qualities” 
to  the  value  of  “not  less  than  three  thousand  dollars,”  also 
rags  and  utensils  worth  “not  less  than  a  thousand  more,” 
and  “credits  to  the  amount  of  nearly  two  thousand.” 
This  was  not  a  large  business  even  for  that  time  but 
evidently  it  was  sufficiently  complicated  to  give  the  owners 
some  cause  for  worry. 

In  central  Massachusetts,  in  1777,  the  price  paid  for 
linen  or  cotton  and  linen  rags  was  three  pence  per  pound ; 
in  1778,  eight  pence;  in  1779,  twelve  pence,  eighteen  pence 
and  two  shillings;  in  1780,  three  shillings  and  six  shillings 
and  in  1781,  ten  shillings.  A  rising  market  surely.  The 
Troy,  N.  Y.,  mill,  in  1792  and  after,  offered  three  pence 
per  pound  for  clean  white  rags  and  two  pence  for  blue, 
brown  or  checked  rags.  About  the  same  time  the  pioneer 
mill  in  western  Pennsylvania  was  offering  four  cents  per 
pound  for  white  rags  and  was  selling  all  the  paper  that  it 
could  produce  for  one  dollar  per  quire.  In  1787  Colonel 
Nicholas  Long  requisitioned  the  governor  of  North  Caro¬ 
lina  for  supplies  for  his  military  camp  and  submitted  in 
his  estimate  that  he  should  need  “specie  to  purchase  20 


72 


EQUIPMENT  AND  RAW  MATERIAL 


Reams  Writing  Paper  £120.”  In  1780  James  Davis,  the 
state  printer,  presented  to  the  general  assembly  of  North 
Carolina  a  memorial  reciting  the  difficulties  under  which 
he  labored  and  the  losses  he  sustained  in  printing  for  the 
state.  Therein  he  referred  to  the  “very  extraordinary 
Rise  in  Paper,  that  Article  now  selling  at  Newbern  from 
Eighty  to  one  Hundred  pounds  per  Ream.”  This  was  a 
war  price,  but  even  at  that,  it  seems  bigger  than  it  probably 
was  in  reality  for  the  pound  was  not  the  pound  sterling  but 
the  colonial  pound  which  in  federal  currency  v/as  about 
three  dollars  and  thirty-three  cents. 

Wages  were  considered  high,  but  measured  by  present- 
day  standards  they  seem  absurdly  small.  Thomas  Hough¬ 
ton  of  the  mill  in  Andover,  Mass.,  wrote  to  his  former 
home  in  England,  in  1789,  saying  that  he  wished  he  had 
some  English  workmen  with  him,  adding: 

“The  wages  is  a  great  inducement ;  for  good  ones, 
used  to  writing  paper  in  every  stage  we  would  give 
fifteen  shillings  per  week  and  board,  or  fifteen  shil¬ 
lings  per  week  and  an  addition  equal  to  board.”®® 

This  indicates  a  weekly  wage  of  about  twenty  shillings, 
equal  to  about  five  dollars,  federal  currency  at  that  time. 
Allowing  for  the  difference  in  purchasing  power  of  money, 
then  and  now,  this  can  scarcely  be  regarded  as  a  big  wage. 
Trained  labor  in  New  England  then  commanded  from 
three  to  four  shillings  per  day. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  century  the  industry  had  suc¬ 
ceeded  in  making  considerable  advance  and  was  in  a  fair 
way  to  become  a  very  important  manufacture,  in  the  num¬ 
ber  of  mills  at  work,  in  the  quantity  and  quality  of  produc¬ 
tion,  and  in  an  ability  more  nearly  to  meet  the  growing 
domestic  demand.  It  still  labored  under  difficulties  and  its 
shortcomings,  especially  as  compared  with  its  later  attain¬ 
ments,  may  not  be  overlooked.  But  it  had  accomplished 
much  in  the  economic  life  of  the  people  and  had  reached 
a  point  where  it  attracted  national  attention. 

** Walter  Clark:  State  Records  of  North  Carolina,  XVT.,  p.  536. 

Walter  Clark:  State  Records  of  North  Carolina,  XV.,  p.  223 
"Sarah  L.  Bailey:  Historical  Sketches  of  Andover,  p.  581. 

73 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


Few  historians,  even  among  those  who  have  essayed 
particularly  to  review  the  economic  and  industrial  devel¬ 
opment  of  the  country,  have  gone  far  enough  or  carefully 
enough  into  examination  of  the  records  to  appreciate  the 
actual  facts  concerning  the  state  of  this  industry  at  the 
beginning  of  our  national  existence.  Undiscriminating 
observers  seem  to  have  been  content  to  measure  it  by  its 
more  obvious  deficiencies,  and  there  let  the  case  rest  with¬ 
out  proceeding  further.  A  popular  American  historian, 
writing  of  the  period  about  1784,  has  said ; 

“Paper  was  both  scarce  and  expensive.  Some  few 
mills  had  recently  been  put  up  in  Pennsylvania,  but 
the  machinery  was  rude,  the  workmen  unskilled,  the 
number  of  reams  turned  out  each  month  by  no  means 
equal  to  the  demand,  and  the  quality  of  the  paper  not 
much  better  than  that  at  present  used  for  printing 
hand  bills  and  posters.  Bristol  board  seems  not  to 
have  been  made  in  the  country  and  so  little  of  it  was 
brought  in  from  abroad  that  the  loss  of  it  was  severely 
felt.”®^ 

The  foregoing  may  be  accepted  as  fairly  expressing  a 
common  opinion  among  those  who  have  not  cared  to  in¬ 
vestigate  the  matter  fully.  It  is,  however,  far  from  being 
a  complete  or  accurate  presentment.  Paper  was  scarce 
and  expensive,  it  is  true,  but,  all  considered,  not  relatively 
more  so  than  other  things  at  the  close  of  the  revolution. 
As  usual,  war  had  been  destructive  in  this  as  in  other 
manufacturing  industries  and,  in  general,  the  paper-mill 
condition  reflected  the  condition  of  the  country.  Demand 
upon  domestic  productiveness  had  been  abnormally  aug¬ 
mented  by  the  cutting  ofif  of  importations  during  the  war 
and  in  the  same  way  raw  materials  and  machinery  had 
been  less  procurable.  Thus  from  both  points  domestic 
productivity  had  not  yet  been  able  wholly  to  master  the 
situation.  But,  steadily  it  was-  approaching  that  goal. 

In  the  last  decade  and  a  half  of  the  century,  the  mills 
were  not  “few  .  .  .  recently  put  up  in  Pennsylvania.’’ 

-AlS  has  been  shown  in  other  chapters  of  this  work,  several 
had  been  successfully  working  in  Pennsylvania,  Alassa- 

“  John  Bach  McMaster :  A  History  of  the  People  of  the  United 
States,  I.,  p.  79. 


74 


EQUIPMENT  AND  RAW  MATERIAL 


chusetts  and  elsewhere  for  from  fifty  to  one  hundred 
years  while  a  very  considerable  number  of  later  day^ — 
from  1750  on — were  firmly  established  in  Pennsylvania, 
New  York,  Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  Maryland,  Dlela- 
ware  and  North  Carolina.  The  total  annual  output  cannot 
be  now  known  but  it  was  not  small.  Of  course  the  ma¬ 
chinery  was,  in  no  wise,  comparable  with  that  of  today. 
In  fact  machinery  was  nearly  a  negligible  quantity,  though 
in  that  respect  the  mills  were  not  materially  inferior  to 
those  elsewhere  in  the  world.  Much  of  it  had  been  imported 
from  Europe,  though  the  war  had,  for  the  time  being,  in¬ 
terfered  with  that  source  of  supply.  Workmen  were  not 
unskilled.  Many  of  them,  especially  the  master  workmen, 
were  fully  capable,  having  learned  the  trade  in  England, 
Germany,  Holland  or  France,  while  for  fifty  years  mills 
of  the  colonies  had  been  educating  men  and  women  to  the 
work;  even  then  women  were  employed.  Bristol  board 
probably  was  not  made  but  absence  of  it  was  not  “severely 
felt”  for  our  ancestors  had  limited  need  for  it. 

Manifestly  absurd  to  anyone  who  knows  about  the  paper 
of  that  period  is  the  statement  that  “the  quality  of  the 
paper  [was]  not  much  better  than  that  at  present  used  for 
printing  hand-bills  and  posters.”  Some  of  the  paper  cer¬ 
tainly  was  not  superior;  in  fact  none  of  it  was  equal  to 
the  best  that  is  now  made.  But  the  worst  was  better  than 
the  worst  of  today  and  there  was  little  indeed  that  would 
suffer  in  comparison  with  the  medium  quality  of  the  twen¬ 
tieth  century.  As  has  been  already  noted,  rags  were  apt 
to  be  carelessly  sorted,  pulp  was  not  bleached,  machinery 
was  not  always  efficient  and  processes  were  far  from  per¬ 
fect.  That,  however,  the  best  paper  was  in  many  respects 
very  good  indeed,  examination  of  newspapers,  books,  pam¬ 
phlets,  broadsides  and  other  prints,  and  of  correspondence, 
account  books,  and  so  on  gives  evidence. 

Much  was  lacking  in  purity  and-  regularity  of  color ; 
this  is  more  observable  in  the  white  or  natural  color  paper 
than  in  the  blue  or  brown ;  in  texture  and  in  strength  it 
was  generally  admirable.  Newspapers  and  books  printed 
in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  before  have 
endured,  in  well-nigh  perfect  condition,  for  one  hundred 

75 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


and  fifty  years  or  more,  despite  much  handling  and  lack 
of  care.  At  most,  their  pages  have  merely  browned  with 
age.  Is  it  supposable  that  as  much  will  be  said  of  the 
printed  sheets  of  1900  after  another  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years?  The  anxiety  of  librarians  and  book-lovers  over  the 
already  perishing  condition  of  newspapers  and  books  of 
the  present  generation  should  be  sufficient  answer  to  that. 
Compare  a  New  York  newspaper  of  1750  with  one  of  1900 
and  note  the  superior  enduring  quality  of  the  former. 
Plentiful  testimony  on  this  point  has  been  offered.  The 
two  references  following  will  suffice. 

Horatio  Gates  Jones  made  an  exhaustive  study  into  the 
history  of  the  Rittenhouse  mill.  In  his  report  to  the  His¬ 
torical  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  May  11,  1863,  he  dwelt 
upon  the  character  of  paper  there  produced,  adding; 

“A  particular  feature  in  the  sketch,  and  in  keeping 
with  the  subject,  is  the  fact  that  the  paper  on  which 
it  is  written  was  made  at  the  first  paper  mill  in 
America,  by  the  first  paper-maker  and  his  son,  prior 
to  the  year  1699.”®^ 

In  an  address  delivered  at  the  celebration  by  the  New 
York  Historical  Society,  May  20,  1863,  of  the  two  hun¬ 
dredth  birthday  of  William  Bradford,  John  William  Wal¬ 
lace,  also  referring  to  the  Rittenhouse  mills,  said : 

“From  this  mill  came  excellent  paper  as  I  can 
testify,  to  write  or  print  on.  What  I  read  you  is 
written  on  it.  I  hold  you  up  a  sheet  of  it.” 

Still  it  must  not  be  assumed  that  all  the  paper  was  of 
this  good  quality.  Some  of  it  was  inferior  and  especially 
so  in  a  period  long  after  the  first  years  of  the  in¬ 
dustry.  Adulterations  had  become  known  and  were  prac¬ 
ticed,  though  not  in  all  the  mills.  Some  of  the  paper  early 
in  the  ninteenth  century  was  not  as  good  as  that  of  a 
hundred  years  before.  It  is  said  that  once,  in  1816,  a  set 
of  Bibles  crumbled  to  pieces  two  years  after  printing.  For 
quick  perishability  that  paper  was  a  fair  rival  of  consid¬ 
erable  that  was  made  seventy  or  more  years  later. 

'"The  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography,  XX.,  p. 
333. 


76 


CHAPTER  FIVE 


AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION 

Slow  Industrial  Growth  of  the  Nation — Paper-Mak¬ 
ing  Still  Confined  Mostly  to  Pennsylvania,  New 
York,  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts  —  New 
Mills  in  Those  and  Other  States — Legislative 
Encouragement  to  Manufacturers  —  First  In¬ 
ventors — Tariff  Measures  of  the  Government 

IN  the  two  decades  and  more  immediately  before  inde¬ 
pendence  from  Great  Britain  had  been  achieved  the 
American  colonies  had  passed  through  a  very  varied 
experience  in  their  industrial  and  commercial  interests.  At 
one  time  discouraged  and  in  every  conceivable  way  ham¬ 
pered  by  opposing  influences  and  adverse  legislation  in  the 
mother  country,  these  interests  were  ultimately  stimulated 
to  a  modestly  steady  and  healthful  growth  by  the  non¬ 
intercourse  measures  that  the  political  situation  developed. 
Then  the  war  went  still  further  in  bringing  about  a  nearly 
complete  commercial  severance  from  Europe,  and,  to  that 
extent,  encouraged  the  growth  of  domestic  manufactures 
and  shipping. 

But  the  war  had  its  disadvantages  as  well.  The  parlia¬ 
mentary  restraints  that  had  immediately  preceded  the  seven 
years’  contest  had  not  been  without  deleterious  results,  and 
in  the  end  the  states  had  been  left  exhausted  in  men 
and  in  means.  There  had  been  none  of  that  fictitious  boom 
and  business  inflation  that  has  often  accompanied  war  and 
ultimately  encouraged  industry.  Prosperity  did  not  at  once 
ensue.  Large  importations  set  in,  and  the  consequent 
heavy  drains  of  specie  from  the  country  brought  financial 

77 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


distress.  Money  was  scarce  and  credit  fell  to  a  low  ebb; 
the  people  were  poor,  generally  speaking,  and  too  widely 
separated  from  each  other  to  have  many  common  interests 
or  to  feel  much  mutuality  in  enterprise;  labor  was  scarce 
and  wages  were  high;  the  public  debt  was  large  and  bur¬ 
densome,  and  business  suffered  under  a  worthless  paper 
currency. 

Still  the  outlook  was  not  wholly  dark.  During  the  more 
than  a  century  and  a  half  of  colonial  existence  the  people, 
already  of  a  mixed  European  racial  origin,  had  developed 
what  has  come  to  be  known  as  the  American  character,  and 
by  patient  toil,  sturdy  self-reliance  and  energetic  utilization 
of  the  natural  resources  of  the  country  they  had  succeeded 
in  building  up  domestic  industries  to  very  considerable 
aggregate  value.  Some  of  these  industries  had  even  been 
able  to  furnish  small  surpluses  for  exportation,  though 
most  of  them  were  still  in  the  infant  state.  The  best  that 
could  be  said  of  them  was  that  they  were  fairly  well  estab¬ 
lished  and  gave  promise  for  the  future  as  soon  as  stable 
conditions  should  gradually  come  into  existence.  It  was 
upon  this  foundation  that  the  substantial  advancement  and 
expansion  of  American  industry  could  safely  be  predicated. 

Paper-making,  as  has  been  shown  in  the  preceding  chap¬ 
ters,  had  suffered  severely  in  this  period,  and  it  was  slower 
than  some  other  industries  in  recovering  from  the  post¬ 
revolution  depression.  Many  observers  were  exceedingly 
sceptical  in  regard  to  its  immediate  future,  and  the  facts 
of  the  situation  seemed  amply  to  justify  their  Jeremiah 
pessimism.  A  distinguished  Frenchman,  statesman  and 
political  enconomist,  traveling  in  the  United  States  near 
the  end  of  the  century,  inspected  many  mills  and  wrote 
concerning  them : 

“Besides  the  dearness  of  workmanship,  their  popu¬ 
lation  cannot  furnish  them  rags  in  quantities  sufficient 
to  establish  paper  mills  whose  productions  would  be 
equal  to  the  consumption  of  the  inhabitants.  ...  In 
proportion  to  the  knowledge  which  nations  may  ac¬ 
quire,  and  to  the  liberty  of  the  press,  which  may  be 
enjoyed  in  America,  a  prodigious  quantity  of  paper 
must  be  consumed  there ;  but  can  the  population  of 
this  country  produce  rags  in  the  same  proportion?  It 

78 


AFTER  THE  RtVOLUTION 


cannot  reasonably  be  hoped  that  it  will.  It  is  there¬ 
fore  probable  that  the  American  markets  will  not  for 
a  long  time  be  provided  with  any  other  than  European 
paper,  and  that  this  will  find  a  place  there.”®® 

This  was  a  common  opinion  at  that  time,  and  the  French 
writer  evidently  was  influenced  in  his  conclusions  by  the 
beliefs  of  the  many  practical  men  of  affairs  and  publicists 
whom  he  met  here.  Certainly  that  generation  did  not  see 
much  encouragement  in  the  prevailing  conditions. 

It  would  not  be  possible,  nor  even  if  possible,  would  it 
be  particularly  interesting  or  profitable,  to  make  a  catalogue 
of  all  the  mills  of  the  first  hundred  years  of  American 
paper-making,  especially  those  of  later  date  than  1750  or 
1760.  They  were  sufficiently  numerous,  all  things  con¬ 
sidered,  except  during  the  war,  when,  as  we  have  seen,  they 
were  not  capable  of  supplying  the  deficiency  caused  by  the 
interruption  of  trade  with  Europe.  Broadly  speaking, 
however,  they  were  not  strong  establishments,  either  finan¬ 
cially  or  mechanically.  Most  of  them  had  only  ephemeral 
existence  and  little  or  nothing  about  them  has  been  pre¬ 
served  in  contemporaneous  records ;  their  history,  slight 
and  unimportant  at  the  best,  was  long  ago  buried  beneath 
the  dead  weeds  of  forgetfulness.  On  the  other  hand,  some 
of  them — though  these  were  few  in  number  and  begun  in 
a  small  way — were,  in  the  course  of  time,  developed  into 
substantial  and  profitable  business  enterprises  enduring, 
either  in  themselves  or  in  their  actual  successors,  into 
far  later  times. 

Evidence  regarding  even  the  most  important  of  the  mills 
of  the  last  quarter  of  the  century  is  fragmentary  and  not 
wholly  reliable.  As  near  as  can  be  ascertained,  there  were 
probably  not  above  eighty  or  ninety  mills  in  the  country 
when  the  war  ended.  Soon,  however,  under  the  stimulus  of 
increased  demand  and  protecting  tariff  legislation,  a  few 
mills  began  to  spring  up  slowly,  particularly  in  the  middle 
states.  De  Warville,  writing  in  1787,  said  that  he  had  been 
informed  of  sixty-three  mills — forty-eight  in  Pennsylvania 

“J.  P.  Brissot  De  Warville:  New  Travels  in  the  United  States 
of  America.  London  Edition,  1794,  II.,  p.  168. 

79 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


and  fifteen  in  Delaware — their  annual  production  being 
valued  at  $250,000.  At  the  same  time  there  were  mills  in 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York,  North  Carolina 
and  elsewhere.  In  the  debate  on  imports  in  the  national 
house  of  representatives,  April  17,  1789,  Representative 
Clymer  of  Pennsylvania  stated  that,  “the  paper  mills  of 
Pennsylvania  were  so  numerous  as  to  be  able  to  supply  a 
very  extensive  demand  in  that  and  the  neighboring  States ; 
they  annually  produce  about  7,000  reams  of  various  kinds, 
which  is  sold  as  cheap  as  can  be  imported.”®^ 

Massachusetts  had  made  a  considerable  progress  during 
the  fifty  years  that  had  elapsed  from  the  establishment  of 
the  first  little  mill  in  Milton  in  1728-1730.  Thomas  Hough¬ 
ton,  part  owner  of  a  mill  in  Andover,  Mass.,  wrote,  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  century,  that  there  were  many  mills 
within  twenty  and  thirty  miles  of  the  place  where  he  was 
located.  One  authority  has  said  that  in  1796  there  were 
three  mills  in  Milton  and  six,  all  told,  on  the  Neponset 
river.  Another  has  said  that  there  were  twelve  in  Massa¬ 
chusetts  in  1794  and,  again,  that  there  were  twenty  in  the 
state  between  1794  and  1796.  Of  these  seven  were  located 
on  the  Charles  river,  several  of  which  were  in  Waltham 
and  Newton,  and  one  each  in  Worcester,  Springfield, 
Andover  and  Sutton.  The  annual  production  of  all  the 
mills  in  the  state  was  valued  at  about  $100,000. 

A  mill  that  attained  to  considerable  importance  in  the 
state  at  this  time  was  that  which  was  put  in  operation  in 
1779  on  the  banks  of  the  Charles  river,  in  Newton,  about 
eight  miles  out  of  Boston.  There  a  dam  was  built  by 
David  Bemis  and  Enos  Sumner,  who  sold  a  site  to  James 
McDougal  of  Boston,  Michael  Carney  of  the  now  fam¬ 
ous  Milton  mill  and  Nathaniel  Patten,  a  paper-maker 
from  Hartford,  Conn. ;  and  they  erected  a  mill  which 
shortly  passed  into  the  hands  of  Bemis,  and,  after  his 
death  in  1790,  became  the  property  of  his  sons,  Luke 
Bemis  and  Isaac  Bemis.  The  rhill  was  burned  in  1792  or 
1793,  and  the  owners  petitioned  the  great  and  general 

“Joseph  Gales:  The  Debaters  and  ProceedingTof  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  (1834),  I.,  p.  167. 

80 


AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION 


court  of  the  state  for  relief  in  their  distress.  The  response 
of  the  legislative  body  to  this  appeal  is  a  good  example  of 
the  governmental  paternalism  that  largely  prevailed  in 
those  days.  The  necessity  of  extending  state  financial 
assistance  to  private  business  enterprises,  as  a  war  meas¬ 
ure,  during  the  revolution  just  brought  to  a  close,  had 
remained  as  a  public  policy  of  more  or  less  general  accept¬ 
ance.  In  June  following  the  destruction  of  the  Bemis  mill 
by  fire  the  great  and  general  court  acted  favorably  upon 
the  petition  of  the  owners : 

“Representing  their  great  sufferings  in  the  loss  of 
their  stock  and  paper-mills  by  fire;  and  in  considera¬ 
tion  of  the  public  advantage  to  be  derived  from  the 
encouragement  of  the  manufacture  of  paper  within 
this  Commonwealth: 

“Resolved,  That  there  be  loaned  from  the  Treasury 
of  this  Commonwealth  the  sum  of  one  thousand 
pounds  to  the  said  Luke  Bemis  and  Isaac  Bemis,  upon 
their  bonds,  with  good  and  sufficient  security  to  this 
Commonwealth,  for  the  repayment  of  the  same  sum 
at  the  end  of  five  years ;  and  also  to  be  conditioned 
that  the  said  Luke  and  Isaac  shall  rebuild,  or  cause 
to  be  rebuilt,  within  two  years  from  the  making  of 
such  loan,  suitable  paper-mills  of  at  least  equal  size 
and  extent  of  the  mills  lately  destroyed  by  fire,  and 
by  themselves  or  their  assigns  shall  prosecute  the 
manufacture  of  paper  therein.’’*® 

It  does  not  appear  that  the  mill  was  immediately  profit¬ 
ably  conducted,  for,  in  1799,  the  owners  again  petitioned 
the  great  and  general  court  for  an  extension  of  time  on  the 
entire  loan  and,  later  in  the  same  year,  they  petitioned  and 
received  permission  to  further  postpone  their  first  payment. 
How,  if  at  all,  they  finally  discharged  their  obligations  the 
record  does  not  say.  But  the  business  was  carried  on  with 
more  or  less  success  for  nearly  fifty  years.  Ultimately  it 
was  abandoned  and  the  building  was  turned  into  a  cotton 
factory  and  then  into  a  hosiery  mill.  When  the  first  rail¬ 
road  came  there  the  place  took  the  name  of  Bemis  Station, 
an  appellation  that  adhered  to  it  forever  after.  Locally 

"‘Resolves  of  the  General  Court,  the  Commonwealth  of  Massa- 
chusetts.  1793-94,  p.  10.  Ibid,  1798,  p.  51.  Ibid,  p.  18. 

81 


The  First  Mill  in  Waltham,  Mass.,  and  Its  Surroundings. 

Reproduced  from  an  engraving  in  The  Massachusetts  Magazine,  April,  1793. 


AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION 


it  was  known  as  “Tin  Horn,”  from  the  circumstance  that 
for  many  years  a  huge  tin  horn  was  blown  morning,  noon 
and  night  to  call  the  workmen.®® 

Another  Massachusetts  mill  before  the  end  of  the  cen¬ 
tury  was  on  the  banks  of  the  Charles  river,  in  Waltham, 
near  the  center  of  that  town.  Known  as  the  Boies  paper 
mill,  this  establishment  was  owned  and  operated  by  John 
Boies,  of  Milton,  and  produced  brown  and  white  paper. 
It  was  erected  soon  after  1780,  the  exact  date  not  now 
being  known.  It  attracted  much  attention,  not  only  from 
its  industrial  importance  but  from  its  picturesque  country 
surroundings.  A  contemporaneous  periodical  printed  a 
picture  of  it,  with  a  brief  accompanying  description : 

“We  have  the  pleasure  to  present  our  patrons  with 
a  south  view  of  Mr.  John  Boyce’s  Paper  Manufac¬ 
tory,  combining  a  prospectus  of  his  dwelling  house 
and  out-buildings,  together  with  a  view  of  the  meet¬ 
ing-house,  the  seats  of  Messieurs  Townsend  and 
Pacy,  and  Charles  River.  The  situation  is  acknowl¬ 
edged  to  be  one  of  the  most  elegant  and  delightful 
in  the  township  of  Waltham,  and  has  deservedly  ac¬ 
quired  the  name  of  EDEN  VALE.  It  is  about  ten 
miles  from  Boston,  and  one  half  mile  from  the  Great 
Road  on  the  Plains.”®" 

In  1798  this  property  was  valued  at  £4,550.  Subse¬ 
quently  the  paper  mill  disappeared  and  upon  its  site  was 
erected  the  first  cotton  mill  in  Massachusetts.  Also  in 
Waltham,  about  the  same  time,  was  a  mill  built  by  Gov¬ 
ernor  Christopher  Gore,  which  was  operated  by  William 
Parker,  of  Cambridge,  and  then  by  Major  Uriah  MoOre 
and  Enoch  Wiswell.  A  third  Waltham  mill  was  started 
about  1798  by  Nathan  and  Amos  Upham,  brothers  who 
had  learned  the  trade  in  the  Boies  mill.®® 

To  Newton  Lower  Falls,  near  Waltham,  about  1790, 
came  John  Ware  from  Sherburne.  He  was  a  brother  of 

“Charles  A.  Nelson:  Waltham,  Past  and  Present  (1879),  p. 
125.  D.  H.  Hurd:  History  of  Middlesex  County,  Massachusetts 
(1890),  III.,  p.  104. 

The  Massachusetts  Magazine,  April,  1793,  p.  192. 

“  Alexander  Starbuck :  in  D.  H.  Hurd’s  History  of  Middlesex 
County,  Massachusetts  (1890),  HI.,  p.  751. 

83 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


the  Reverend  Henry  Ware  of  Harvard  College.  The  mill 
that  he  built  in  Newton  was  the  first  in  a  long  line  of 
similar  establishments  that  have  rendered  that  place 
famous  in  the  annals  of  American  paper-making.®® 


An  Early  Massachusetts  Paper-Mill  Proprietor. 


Springfield,  Mass.,  attempted  to  have  a  mill  during  the 
time  of  the  revolution.  Proprietors  of  the  iron  works  on 
Mill  river  conceived  the  idea  and  received  from  the  town 

S.  F.  Smith:  History  of  Newton,  Massachusetts  (1880),  p. 
272.  Francis  Jackson :  A  History  of  the  Early  Settlement  of 
Newton  (1859),  p.  105. 


84 


AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION 


a  grant  of  lands  and  privileges.  For  some  reason  the  grant 
was  soon  after  rescinded  and  the  mill  was  not  built.  But 
in  1786  Samuel  Babcock  owned  a  mill  there  and  made  a 
variety  of  paper,  writing,  news,  cartridge  and  wrapping.^®® 
Another  mill  was  established  in  Springfield  prior  to  1788, 
probably  by  Eleazer  Wright.  This,  in  the  next  century, 
was  developed  into  the  noted  and  extensive  enterprise  of 
the  famous  Ames  family.^®’- 

A  mill  was  built  in  Andover,  Mass.,  in  1789  by  the  Hon¬ 
orable  Samuel  Phillips,  founder  of  the  celebrated  Phillips 
Academy.  It  was  operated  by  Phillips  and  Houghton,  the 
junior  partner  being  Thomas  Houghton,  an  experienced 
paper  manufacturer  from  England.  Work  was  started  in 
an  old  powder  mill,  but  soon  was  carried  on  in  a  new  build¬ 
ing  erected  expressly  for  the  purpose.  Phillips  had  influ¬ 
ence  in  politics — a  “pull”  we  would  call  it  in  later  time — 
and  had  arranged  in  advance  with  the  state  printer  to 
“take  at  least  to  the  amount  of  £1,200  a  year”  of  paper. 
But  the  business  was  long  in  coming  to  the  point  of  finan¬ 
cial  soundness,  for,  as  the  manager  complained,  in  letters 
that  have  been  preserved,  competition  was  considerable, 
rags  were  high-priced,  paper  was  cheap,  and  wages  were 
high,  while  long-time  and  uncertain  credit  was  a  trade  con¬ 
dition  as  necessary  as  it  was  discouraging. 

A  newspaper  publisher’s  need  led  to  the  erecting  of  a 
mill  in  central  Massachusetts  in  1775,  or  1776,  the  sixth  or 
seventh  in  that  colony.  Isaiah  Thomas,  one  of  the  great 
colonial  printers,  was  compelled  to  flee  from  Boston  in 
April,  1775,  with  the  types  and  press  of  his  famous  patriot 
newspaper.  The  Massachusetts  Spy,  to  escape  seizure  by 
the  British.  Reaching  Worcester  safely  he  set  up  his  press 
there,  the  revolutionary  committee  of  safety  contriving  to 
supply  him  with  paper  from  the  mill  in  Milton,  first  “fifty 
reams  of  crown,  forty  of  demy,  twenty  of  foolscap  and 
five  of  writing  paper”  and  again  “sixty  reams  of  crown 
and  eight  reams  of  demy.”  The  difficulty  of  transporta- 

Mason  A.  Green :  Springfield,  1636-1886.  History  of  Town 
and  City  (1888),  p.  347. 

J.  E.  A.  Smith:  Life,  Life  Work  and  Influence  of  Zmas  Crane 
(1906),  p.  IS. 


85 


The  Isaiah  Thomas  Mill  in  Worcester,  Mass.,  1793. 

Reiiroihict'd  from  an  old  wood  engraving. 


AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION 


tion  across  country  from  Milton  to  Worcester  led  the  au¬ 
thorities  to  plan  for  a  supply  nearer  home  and  at  a  conven¬ 
tion  of  delegates  from  the  towns  in  Worcester  county, 
held  May  31,  1775,  this  action  was  taken; 

“Resolved,  That  the  erecting  of  a  paper  mill  in  this 
county  would  be  of  great  public  advantage;  and,  if 
any  person  or  persons  will  undertake  the  erecting  of 
such  mill  and  the  manufacture  of  paper,  that  it  be  rec¬ 
ommended  to  the  people  of  the  county  to  encourage 
the  undertaking  by  generous  contributions  and  sub¬ 
scriptions.” 

In  response,  Abijah  Burbank  of  Sutton  undertook  the 
venture,  but  it  was  a  full  year  before  he  could  show  results 
and  then  only  with  a  sample  of  coarse  or  ordinary  paper. 
It  was  not  until  May,  1778,  that  he  was  able  to  inform  the 
public,  in  an  advertisement  in  the  Spy,  “that  the  manufac¬ 
ture  of  paper  at  Sutton  is  now  carried  on  to  great  perfec¬ 
tion”  ;  but  scarcity  of  rags  and  other  troubles  long  hindered 
him  from  producing  even  enough  on  which  to  print  the 
Spy.  For  nearly  twenty  years  this  mill,  managed  by  its 
founder  and  his  son,  Caleb  Burbank,  was  almost  the  sole 
dependence  of  the  printers  of  that  part  of  the  state. 

But  the  demands  of  the  press  of  Thomas,  for  whom  the 
mill  had  been  started,  constantly  outpaced  the  supply. 
Isaiah  Thomas  had  become  one  of  the  foremost  printers 
and  publishers  of  his  day  in  the  United  States.  At  one 
time  he  had  sixteen  printing  presses  running ;  he  published 
four  newspapers,  several  editions  of  the  Bible,  historical 
works,  law,  school  and  blank  books,  and  controlled  book 
stores  in  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  New  York  and 
Maryland.  A  great  deal  of  paper  was  naturally  required 
to  keep  his  presses  going  and  accordingly  he  planned  to 
build  a  mill  of  his  own.  The  mill  was  put  in  operation  in 
1794  but,  in  1798,  Mr.  Thomas  sold  it  to  the  Burbanks  of 
Sutton,  who  ran  it  in  addition  to  their  earlier  one. 

In  1795  Thomas  printed  an  edition  of  Charlotte  Smith’s 
Elegiac  Sonnets  and  Other  Poems,  after  the  sixth  London 
edition.  In  the  announcement  of  this  work  the  printer 

^“William  Lincoln:  The  Journals  of  the  Provincial  Congress  of 
Massachusetts  in  1774  and  1775  (1838),  p.  651. 

87 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


took  occasion  to  say :  “The  making  of  the  particular  kind 
of  paper  on  which  these  Sonnets  are  printed  is  a  new  busi¬ 
ness  in  America;  and  but  lately  introduced  into  Great- 
britain  [sic]  ;  it  is  the  first  manufactured  by  the  editor.” 

The  Thomas  mill,  which  was  in  Quinsigamond  village, 
Worcester,  on  the  Blackstone  river,  was  supplied  with  two 


Isaiah  Thomas. 

Printer,  Publisher,  Editor  and  Paper-Mill  Proprietor. 

vats  of  about  one  hundred  and  ten  pounds  capacity,  and 
they  ran  usually  fifteen  hours  each  day,  employing  ten  men 
and  eleven  girls.  From  twelve  hundred  to  fourteen  hun¬ 
dred  pounds  of  hand-made  paper  were  turned  out  weekly. 
The  skilled  engineer  who  managed  the  plant  received  about 
three  dollars  per  week ;  vat-man  and  coucher,  three  and  a 
half  dollars  each,  without  board;  ordinary  workmen  and 
girls,  seventy-five  cents  per  week  each ;  boys,  sixty  cents 


88 


AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION 


each,  with  their  board  in  addition.  These  were  the  wages 
that  generally  prevailed  in  all  the  mills  throughout  the 
country  at  this  time  and  later. 

A  third  mill  in  Worcester  county,  before  the  century 
ended,  was  that  of  Nichols  &  Kendall  in  Leominster,  put 
in  operation  in  1796. 

Rhode  Island  had  its  first  paper-mill  in  1780.  Samuel 
Thurber  owned  a  dam  across  the  Moshassuck  river  in  the 
town  of  Providence  and  he  and  his  three  sons,  Martin, 
Samuel  and  Edward,  built  a  mill.  There,  in  the  first  years 
of  the  next  century,  bank-note  paper  was  made  for  the 
first  banks  established  locally.  Two  other  mills  were  in 
Olneyville,  a  suburb  of  Providence,  in  the  closing  years 
of  the  century.  One  was  known  as  the  “Brown  George” 
and  the  other  as  the  “Rising  Sun.”  Both  were  owned  by 
Christopher  Olney,  who  marketed  his  paper  from  a  ware¬ 
house  in  the  city.^®* 

In  Connecticut  before  the  end  of  the  century  the  Leffing- 
well  mill  of  Norwich  was  followed  by  several  others.  On 
the  Hockanum  river,  in  East  Hartford,  afterward  Man¬ 
chester,  at  the  opening  of  the  revolution  Ebenezer  Watson 
and  Austin  Ledyard  had  a  mill,  the  second  in  the  state.  Wat¬ 
son  owned  the  Connecticut  Courant  and  this  mill  was 
started  to  supply  the  press  of  his  newspaper.  It  also  made 
the  greater  part  of  the  writing  paper  used  in  the  Connecti¬ 
cut  colony  and  in  the  continental  army  in  that  part  of  the 
country.  In  1778  the  mill  was  destroyed  by  an  incendiary 
fire.  In  a  memorial  to  the  general  assembly  of  the  state, 
petitioning  for  relief,  the  owners  fixed  their  loss  at  $20,000 
and  stated  that  their  engagement  with  the  Courant  called 
for  paper  of  a  weekly  issue  of  eight  thousand  copies.^”® 
Both  Watson  and  Ledyard  had  died  and  the  property 
was  owned  by  their  widows,  Hannah  Watson  and  Sarah 
Ledyard.  The  assembly  extended  a  helping  hand  by  re¬ 
solving  ; 

E.  B.  Crane  :  Early  Paper  Mills  in  Massachusetts.  In  Collec¬ 
tions  of  the  Worcester  Society  of  Antiquity,  VII.,  p.  127. 

'“‘Richard  M.  Bayles :  History  of  Providence  County,  Rhode 
Island  (1891),  I.,  p.  589. 

'““J-  Hammond  Trumbull:  Memorial  History  of  Hartford 
County,  Conn.  (1886),  II.,  p.  250. 

89 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


“That,  as  the  rebuilding  the  said  paper  mill  is  of 
public  necessity  and  utility,  the  memorialists  have 
liberty,  and  liberty  and  authority  is  hereby  granted  to 
them,  to  set  up  and  cause  to  be  properly  drawn  a  lot¬ 
tery  at  their  risque  and  charge,  to  raise  a  sum  not  ex¬ 
ceeding  fifteen  hundred  pounds,  money,  to  be  to  the 
memorialists  in  proportion  to  their  loss  sustained  in 
said  mill  .  .  .  and  that  the  money  that  shall  be 
raised  by  said  lottery  shall  be  appropriated  to  the 
building  of  said  mill.” 

A  committee  of  the  assembly  was  ordered  to  oversee  the 
lottery.  Subsequently  the  property  passed  into  possession 
of  the  widow  Watson  and  after  her  marriage  to  Barzillai 
Hudson  it  was  owned  by  Hudson  &  Goodwin,  who  were 
the  joint  proprietors  of  the  Courant  newspaper.^®^ 

In  New  Haven  about  1776,  David  Bunce  erected  a  mill 
at  Westville  and  a  few  years  later  another  one  at  the  base 
of  West  Rock.  Charles  Bunce,  who  was  an  apprentice  in 
this  mill,  went  to  Hartford  in  1788  and  there  was  in  the 
employ  of  Hudson  &  Goodwin  and  of  John  Butler,  who 
had  succeeded  to  the  ownership  of  the  Butler  &  Hudson 
mill  that  was  started  before  1784.  Bunce,  who  also  had 
experience  in  the  mill  in  Andover,  Mass.,  purchased  an  old 
building  on  Hop  brook,  Manchester,  and  began  the  manu¬ 
facture  of  paper  on  his  own  account.  With  him  his  sons, 
six  in  number,  became  associated  as  they  grew  to  manhood 
and  together  they  built  other  mills,  members  of  the  family 
being  celebrated  paper-makers  for  sixty  years. 

Other  mills  were  started  in  Connecticut  about  this  time 
and  at  the  end  of  the  century  sixteen  were  in  operation. 
All  of  them  were  small  affairs,  employing  together  only 
one  hundred  and  sixty  workmen  and  using  annually  three 
hundred  and  twenty  tons  of  rags.^®® 

More  than  passing  notice  of  Colonel  Matthew  Lyon,  the 
first  paper  manufacturer  of  Vermont,  is  demanded,  in  vir- 

Charles  J.  Hoadley:  Public  Records  of  the  State  of  Connec¬ 
ticut  (1858),  I.,  p.  503. 

”"J.  Hammond  Trumbull:  Memorial  History  of  Hartford 
County  (1886),  II.,  p.  98.  Isaiah  Thomas:  History  of  Printing  in 
America  (1874),  I.,  p.  191. 

'""John  Bach  McMaster:  A  History  of  the  People  of  the  United 
States  (1885),  II.,  p.  64. 


90 


AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION 


tue  of  his  notable  career.  He  came  from  Ireland  about 
1756,  a  boy  of  ten  years  of  age,  having  sold  himself  to  pay 
his  passage.  In  a  few  years  he  was  able  to  redeem  himself 
by  working  in  Connecticut,  where  he  had  landed ;  and, 
soon  after  he  had  come  to  mature  years,  he  went  to  Ver¬ 
mont.  From  that  time  on  his  activity  was  something  re¬ 
markable.  He  acquired  wealth  and  influence,  married  into 
one  of  the  old-established  families  of  Vermont,  built  many 
mills,  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  town  of  Fairhaven, 
established  a  democratic  newspaper  and  had  other  business 
interests.  A  man  of  brilliant  qualities  of  mind,  he  natu¬ 
rally  took  an  interest  in  public  affairs  and  led  a  stormy 
political  life  on  the  rostrum  and  in  the  state  assembly,  being 
known  as  “the  roaring  Lyon  of  Vermont.”  An  uncom¬ 
promising  democrat,  he  fought  the  federalists  on  the  plat¬ 
form  and  in  his  newspaper  and  has  been  called  by  his 
admirers  “the  American  Pym.”  Under  the  sedition  act 
his  political  opponents  caused  his  arrest  and  succeeded  in 
having  him  tried  and  imprisoned.  He  was  then  a  member 
of  congress  from  Vermont  and  his  constituents  re-elected 
him  while  he  was  in  jail.  Leaving  Vermont  he  went  to 
Kentucky,  where  he  founded  another  newspaper  and  was 
again  elected  to  congress.  Finally  he  moved  to  Arkansas 
and  there  held  other  political  office  before  his  death  in  1822. 

Colonel  Lyon’s  paper-mill  was  in  Fairhaven,  a  small  part 
of  his  big  business  interests  there.  It  was  built  some  time 
between  1790  and  1795  and  principally  served  his  own 
printing  establishment.  His  son  James  succeeded  him  in 
ownership  and  operation,  but  the  mill  passed  into  other 
hands  in  the  first  years  of  the  next  century.  It  was  in 
operation  until  after  1880. 

New  York  state  had  no  mill  north  of  the  Highlands  until 
near  the  close  of  the  century.  The  printers  and  stationers 
of  Albany  and  Troy  were  dependent  upon  the  mills  in 
Hartford,  Conn.,  and  Burlington,  Vt.  From  those  sources 
the  supply  was  small  and  transportation  over  rough  roads 
and  through  forests  was  difficult.  The  first  mill  in  this 
section  was  on  the  Poestenkill,  a  small  creek  that  set  in 
from  the  Hudson  river  in  the  outskirts  of  Troy.  It  was 
built  in  1792  by  Mahlon  Taylor  “near  his  dwelling-house’ 

91 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


on  the  west  side  of  the  creek  and  was  supplied  with  water 
from  a  flume  which  also  served  a  neighboring  grist  mill 
and  saw  mill.  Soon  after  its  erection  the  mill  was  sold, 
for  £400,  to  Charles  R.  and  George  Webster,  printers  of 
Albany,  and  Ashbel  Seymour  and  Perley  Ensign,  paper- 
makers  of  Hartford.  It  had  a  capacity  of  from  five  to  ten 
reams  daily.  A  few  years  later  another  mill  was  erected 
nearby  on  the  Wynantskill.  Both  these  mills  were  in 
operation  well  into  the  next  century.^®® 

Joshua  and  Thomas  Gilpin  had  a  paper-mill  on  the 
Brandywine  river,  two  miles  above  the  city  of  Wilmington, 
Del.,  in  1787.  De  Warville,  the  French  statesman,  travel¬ 
ing  in  the  United  States  in  1788,  thus  wrote  of  this  mill: 

“This  town  is  famous  for  its  fine  mills ;  the  most 
considerable  of  which  is  a  paper  mill  belonging  to  Mr. 
Gilpin  and  Myers  Fisher,  that  worthy  orator  and  man 
of  science  whom  I  have  often  mentioned.  Their  proc¬ 
ess  in  making  paper,  especially  in  grinding  the  rags, 
is  much  more  simple  than  ours.  I  have  seen  speci¬ 
mens  of  their  paper,  both  for  writing  and  printing, 
equal  to  the  finest  made  in  France.” 

Thomas  Gilpin  and  Miers — not  Myers — Fisher  were 
brothers-in-law,  Gilpin  having  married  Fisher’s  sister.  The 
Gilpins  and  the  Fishers  were  wealthy  and  influential  Qua¬ 
kers,  merchants  of  Philadelphia.  Their  non-resistance 
during  the  revolution  brought  them  into  much  trouble. 
Several  of  them  were  compelled  to  remove  to  Virginia. 
Among  these  was  Miers  Fisher,  who,  however,  returned 
to  Philadelphia  after  the  war  had  ended,  became  a  success¬ 
ful  and  wealthy  lawyer  and  was  prominent  in  public  affairs, 
in  the  city  council  and  in  the  house  of  representatives  of 
Pennsylvania.  The  Gilpin  paper  was  identified  by  several 
water-marks.  One  that  was  commonly  used  was  a  post¬ 
horn  and  the  signature,  J.  G.  &  Co.,  Brandywine. 

Another  Pennsylvanian  whose  name  was  associated  with 
these  early  American  enterprises  was  Benjamin  Franklin. 

“"Arthur  James  Weise:  The  City  of  Troy  and  Its  Vicinity 
(1886),  p.  229. 

“"J.  P.  Brissot  de  Warville:  Travels  in  the  United  States, 
(1794),  II.,  p,  362. 


92 


AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION 


First  as  a  printer  and  a  publisher  and,  later  in  life,  as  a 
scientist  and  all-around  business  man,  a  philosopher,  a 
man  of  public  affairs,  a  patriot  and  a  far-seeing  statesman, 
he  was  deeply  interested  in  paper-making,  the  importance 
of  which,  as  a  fundamental  factor  in  developing  American 
industries  generally  and  in  conserving  American  free  insti¬ 
tutions,  he  fully  appreciated — no  man  of  his  day  more 


Benjamin  Franklin. 

He  Wrote  on  Paper-Manufacturing  and  Was  Practically  Interested  in 
Paper-Mills  of  Pennsylvania. 

clearly.  He  patronized  and  encouraged  the  new  mills, 
particularly  those  in  Pennsylvania,  in  every  way  that  he 
could,  as  a  private  individual  and  as  a  public  official.  De 
Warville  in  his  account  of  travels  in  the  United  States 
relates  that  Franklin  told  him  that  he  had  been  instru¬ 
mental  in  starting  eighteen  mills.  Also  his  intellectual 


93 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


versatility  led  him  to  write  on  this  subject.  In  June,  1788, 
he  read  before  the  American  Philosophical  Society  in  Phil¬ 
adelphia  a  paper  entitled  Description  of  the  Process  to  he 
Observed  in  Making  Large  Sheets  of  Paper  in  the  Chinese 
Manner,  with  one  Smooth  Surface 

Delaware  county,  Pennsylvania,  was  a  paper-mill  center 
in  the  latter  years  of  the  century.  The  Willcox  mill  in 
Concord  township  has  already  been  described  in  detail  and 
it  was  still  in  prosperous  existence.  Others  were  the  Lenni 
mills  of  John  Lungren  on  Chester  creek,  in  1798;  the 
Aaron  Matson  mill  on  Chester  creek,  in  1790  and  after; 
the  William  Trimble  mill  in  Concord  township  before 
1799;  the  mill  on  Darby  creek  owned  in  1778  by  Morris 
Trueman  and  in  1799  by  John  Matthews.  John  Lungren 
also  owned  and  operated,  in  1785,  a  mill  on  Ridley  creek 
which  had  been  built  by  James  Willcox  in  1766.  Members 
of  the  Levis  family  were  noted  paper-mill  owners  in  this 
region.  Samuel  Levis  was  a  maltster  in  Leicester,  Eng¬ 
land,  before  he  came  to  America  in  1684.  Settling  in 
Delaware  county  on  the  banks  of  Darby  creek,  upper 
Darby,  he  devoted  himself  almost  exclusively  to  the  build¬ 
ing  of  mills  of  every  description.  His  application  to  this 
business  brought  him  wealth  and  made  him  a  man  of  in¬ 
fluence  and  his  descendants  for  several  generations  fol¬ 
lowed  his  example  and  profited  thereby.  Samuel  Levis  in 
1782  and,  after  him,  William  Levis,  owned  and  operated  a 
paper-mill  in  upper  Darby  township ;  William  Levis  bought 
a  mill  on  Ridley  creek  before  1795 ;  before  the  revolution 
Samuel  Levis  had  a  mill  on  Darby  creek ;  Isaac  Levis  had 
a  mill  on  Ridley  creek  in  1790  and  later,  and  in  1798  his 
son  and  son-in-law  operated  the  mill  under  the  alliterative 
partnership  name  of  Levis  &  Lewis ;  William  Levis,  in 
1795,  acquired  from  John  Lungren  the  Willcox  mill  on 
Ridley  creek  in  Upper  Providence  township  and  his  son 
John  Levis  was  the  manager  of  the  property;  Thomas 
Levis,  Sr.,  in  Springfield  township,  owned  a  mill  that,  in 
1799,  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  two  of  his  sons,  John 
Levis  and  Thomas  Levis,  Jr.  A  long  and  absorbingly  in- 

Transactions  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  III.,  p.  8. 

94 


AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION 


teresting  chapter  in  American  paper-mill  history  of  the 
eighteenth  century  could  be  written  with  Delaware  county 
as  the  scene  of  action ;  and  the  names  of  Willcox,  Lungren, 
Levis,  Martin  and  others  would  illumine  it  brilliantly  on 
every  page. 

West  of  the  Allegheny  mountains  no  paper-mill  existed 
until  near  the  close  of  this  century.  It  was  in  1795  that 
Samuel  Jackson  and  Jonathan  Sharpless,  Quakers  from 
the  eastern  part  of  Pennsylvania,  were  settled  near  Pitts¬ 
burg  and  conceived  the  idea  of  making  paper  there.  Sharp¬ 
less  was  a  blacksmith  and  general  mechanic  who  had 
learned  the  trade  in  the  Gilpin  mill  on  the  Brandywine  and 
Jackson  was  a  farmer,  a  mill  owner,  and  engaged  in  other 
business  pursuits.  Their  mill — the  first  in  that  part  of  the 
United  States — was  built  upon  the  Redstone  creek,  Jeffer¬ 
son  township,  Fayette  county,  some  four  miles  east  of 
Brownsville.  Many  difficulties  confronted  them  even  be¬ 
fore  they  could  start  the  mill  running,  chiefly  of  course 
the  inevitable  scarcity  of  rags.  Advance  announcement  of 
their  plans  was  made  by  the  proprietors  in  a  local  news¬ 
paper  advertisement,  and  in  this  was  incorporated  what 
had  now  become  the  familiar  and  imperative  call  for 
rags,  as  follows  9^- 

“TO  THE  PUBLIC 
“Samuel  Jackson  &  Co. : 

“Inform  the  inhabitants  of  the  Western  Country 
that  they  are  making  every  exertion  to  forward  the 
completion  of  their  Paper-Mill,  which  they  are  erect¬ 
ing  on  Big  Redstone,  about  four  miles  from  Browns¬ 
ville,  in  Fayette  county,  a  never-failing  stream.  That 
they  have  experienced  Workmen  engaged  to  carry  on 
the  work,  and  hope  to  be  able  before  the  expiration  of 
the  present  year  to  furnish  their  Fellow-Citizens  with 
the  different  kinds  of  paper  usually  in  demand,  of 
their  own  manufacture,  and  of  as  good  quality  as  any 
brought  from  below  the  mountains.  They  request 
their  fellow-citizens  generally  to  promote  their  under¬ 
taking  by  encouraging  the  saving  and  collecting  of 
rags,  and  inform  Merchants  and  Store-keepers  in  par¬ 
ticular  that  they  will  give  them  a  generous  price  in 


The  Western  Telegraphe  and  Washington  Advertiser,  May 
24,  1796. 


95 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


Cash  for  such  clean  Linen  and  Cotton  rags  as  they 
may  collect. 

“Redstone,  May  19,  1796.” 

At  the  outset  writing-paper  was  made  and  was  carried 
to  Pittsburg  in  a  wagon  by  one  of  tiie  owners  of  the  mill 
and  sold  to  individual  customers.  Before  a  year  had  passed 
printing-paper  was  chiefly  made  and  between  twenty  and 
twenty-five  work  people  were  employed.  It  appears  that 
the  first  printing-paper  was  put  upon  the  market  in  June, 
1797,  according  to  notices  in  two  local  newspapers. 

“The;  paper  which  you  now  read  was  manufactured 
at  Redstone,  by  Messrs.  Jackson  &  Sharpless,  and  for¬ 
warded  with  a  request  to  publish  thereon  a  number 
of  the  Telegraphe,  that  the  public  might  judge  of 
their  performance.” 

“This  paper  is  made  in  the  Western  country.  It  is 
with  great  pleasure  that  we  present  to  the  public  the 
Pittsburgh  Gazette,  printed  on  paper  made  by  Messrs. 
Jackson  &  Sharpless,  on  Redstone  Creek,  in  Fayette 
County.  Writing  paper,  all  kinds  and  qualities,  as 
well  as  printing-paper  will  be  made  at  the  mill.  This 
is  of  great  importance  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  coun¬ 
try,  not  only  because  it  will  be  cheaper  than  that  which 
is  brought  across  the  mountains,  but  it  will  keep  a 
large  sum  of  money  in  the  country  which  is  yearly 
sent  out  for  the  article.” 

Eventually  the  mill  was  able  to  produce  annually  paper 
to  the  value  of  ten  or  twelve  thousand  dollars. 

A  Baltimore  historian  records  that,  in  1778,  several 
manufactures  were  established  in  or  near  that  town, 
among  them  being  “a  paper  mill  by  Mr.  Goddard.” 
This  Mr.  Goddard  was  William  Goddard,  editor  of  The 
Maryland  Journal  and  Baltimore  Advertiser.  He  was  a 
noted  printer,  editor  and  publisher,  in  Providence,  R.  I., 
in  1762;  in  New  York  with  Holt  on  Parker’s  Gazette  and 
Post  Boy;  after  1766  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  started 
the  Pennsylvania  Chronicle,  and  after  1773  in  Baltimore. 

Western  Telegraphe  and  Washington  Advertiser,  June  20, 1797. 
The  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  June  24,  1797.  F.  Ellis.  History  of 
Fayette  County,  Pennsylvania  (1882),  pp.  620-623. 

““Thomas  W.  Griffith:  Annals  of  Baltimore  (1824),  p.  80. 


96 


AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION 


Plans  for  another  North  Carolina  mill  were  projected 
in  1789,  when,  in  November  of  that  year,  Gotlieb  Shober 
and  others  petitioned  the  legislature  relative  to  paper¬ 
making  and  were  granted  a  loan  of  three  hundred  dollars, 
without  interest,  for  a  term  of  three  years7^®  Additions 
were  made,  in  this  period,  to  the  paper-mill  group  in  Mil- 
ton,  Mass.  Most  important  was  that  by  the  Mill  Creek 
and  Neponset  River  Company,  which  was  incorporated  in 
1798  by  Michael  McCarney  and  others.  McCarney  was  of 
a  group  of  Irishmen  long  identified  with  paper-making  in 
Milton,  among  them  being  John  Sullivan  and  Patrick 
Connor.^” 

The  first  paper-mill  west  of  the  Susquehanna  river  wa.'= 
erected  in  Georgetown,  Ky.,  in  1793,  by  Craig,  Parker  & 
Co.  This  appears  from  several  newspaper  announcements : 

“Any  person  understanding  paper  making  or  the 
construction  of  a  paper  mill,  will  please  apply  at  this 
office.” 

“A  paper  mill. — The  subscribers  inform  the  publick 
that  they  have  undertaken  to  build  a  paper  mill  at 
Craig’s  Fulling  Mill,  Woodford  County,  Ky.  They 
flatter  themselves  that  they  will  be  able  to  supply  the 
district  with  paper  this  coming  winter,  if  the  publick 
will  be  so  obliged  to  save  their  rags  for  the  purpose, 
without  which  we  need  not  inform  them  the  mill  will 
be  useless.  We  therefore  earnestly  request  them  to 
save  their  rags.  Craig  &  Logan.” 

“Craig,  Parker  &  Co.’s  paper  manufactory  is  actu¬ 
ally  making  paper.  We  make  no  doubt  but  that  in 
the  course  of  the  spring  we  shall  be  able  to  furnish 
the  State  in  all  kinds  of  paper,  providing  we  can  get 
a  sufficient  supply  of  rags,  nor  have  we  any  reason  to 
fear  from  the  success  we  have  already  had  in  collect¬ 
ing  rags  but  we  shall  be  plentifully  supplied.  We 
earnestly  hope  that  the  importance  of  the  manufac¬ 
tory  to  the  State  at  large  is  a  sufficient  argument  to 
induce  them  to  save  their  rags.” 

“Wanted  at  the  Georgetown  paper  mill  four  or  five 
boys  to  learn  the  trade.  Craig,  Parker  &  Co.” 


“’Walter  Qark :  State  Records  of  North  Carolina  (1903), 
XXL,  p.  581. 

Journal  of  the  American-Irish  Historical  Society,  VI.,  pp.  79- 
80,  VII.,  p.  86. 


97 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


“Writing  and  wrapping  papers  for  sale  at  this  office 
by  the  ream.’’ 

The  Kentucky  Gazette  was  printed  on  paper  made  in 
this  mill,  which  also  supplied  the  presses  of  the  Western 
Spy  in  Cincinnati,  the  Scioto  Gazette  in  Scioto,  Ohio,  and 
other  newspapers  in  that  region.  Several  historians  of 
early  Kentucky  days  have  referred  to  this  mill  as  an  im¬ 
portant  assistance  to  the  business  life  of  the  time. 

“In  1792  a  paper  mill,  the  first  which  had  been  at¬ 
tempted  in  Kentucky,  was  in  progress  and  near  com¬ 
pletion.  For  this  establishment,  which  promises  to  be 
useful,  the  country  was  indebted  to  the  exertions  of 
Craig  &  Parker.  It  was  near  Georgetown  and  soon 
after  rendered  production.” 

“The  first  paper  mill  was  built  at  Georgetown  by 
the  Rev.  Elijah  Craig,  a  Baptist  preacher,  and  his 
partners  Parker  &  Co.  The  enterprise  was  begun  in 
the  summer  of  1791  and  the  manufacture  of  paper 
successfully  was  not  accomplished  until  March,  1793. 
The  mill  house  was  40  by  60  feet  in  size,  the  basement 
stone,  and  the  two  and  one-half  stories  above  of 
wood.  The  mill  dam  was  erected  in  1789.  Here 
was  turned  out  the  first  sheet  of  paper  made  in  the 
great  West.  The  first  mill  was  burned  down  in 
1837.”^=*® 

Improvements  either  in  paper-making  machinery  or 
paper-making  processes  were  slow  in  coming.  The  first 
United  States  patent  law  for  the  protection  of  inventors 
was  passed  in  1790  and  a  second  law  in  1793.  During  the 
ten  years  from  1790  to  1800  the  number  of  patents  granted 
was  two  hundred  and  seventy-six,  of  which  only  four  re¬ 
lated  to  the  paper-making  industry.  These  pioneers  in  a 
great  company  of  distinguished  successors  from  1800  to 
1916  were :  John  Carnes,  Jr.,  Delaware,  improved  paper 
moulds,  April  11,  1793;  John  Biddis,  Pennsylvania,  im¬ 
provement  in  paper-making,  March  31,  1794;  Cyrus  Aus¬ 
tin,  New  Jersey,  improvement  in  paper-making,  December 

Lexington  Kentucky  Gazette,  January  1,  1791;  April  7,  1792; 
March  29,  1793. 

““Humphrey  Marshall:  History  of  Kentucky  (1824),  I.,  p.  391. 

““Lewis  Collins:  History  of  Kentucky  (1874),  I.,  p.  516. 

98 


AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION 


14,  1798;  Robert  R.  Livingston,  New  York,  improvement 
in  paper-making,  October  28,  1799.  John  Biddis’  patent 
was  for  making  paper  and  pasteboard  from  sawdust.  He 
built  a  mill  for  that  purpose  and  around  it  laid  out  and 
developed  the  town  of  Milford,  Penn.^-^ 


Robert  R.  Livingston. 

Inventor  of  an  Imi)roved  Process  in  Pai)er-Making,  1799. 

Paper-hangings  or  wallpaper  came  into  the  colonies  as 
early  as  1737,  but  in  scant  amount  until  well  after  the  mid¬ 
dle  of  the  century.  It  was  not  used  by  pasting  on  the  wall, 
as  in  later  generations,  but  was  suspended  against  the  wall 
or  on  wooden  frames  as  tapestries.  Its  use  was  frowned 
upon  by  the  church  as  a  sinful  display  of  luxury  and  pride 

His  name  is  also  given  as  Biddle,  but  in  the  records  of  the 
patent  office  it  is  Biddis. 


99 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  m  the  UNITED  STATES 


and,  as  it  was  all  imported  from  England  and  France  and 
was  costly,  those  two  reasons  operated  to  prevent,  for  a 
long  time,  its  general  adoption.  Finally,  native  manufac¬ 
turers  became  interested  and,  in  1763  and  again  in  1766, 
samples  of  the  domestic  product  were  exhibited.  In  1789, 
or  soon  after,  John  Carnes  of  Delaware  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  paper-hangings  on  a  large  scale.  He  had 
been  the  United  States  consular  representative  at  Lyons, 
France,  and  there  had  learned  something  about  the  busi¬ 
ness.  Associating  himself  with  Burrell  Carnes  and  two 
French  workmen  by  the  name  of  Le  Collay  and  Chardon 
he  was  established  in  Philadelphia. 

The  breaking  out  of  the  revolution  stopped  the  advance 
of  the  industry,  but  after  the  war  had  been  brought  to  an 
end  manufacture  was  taken  up  again  and  use  rapidly  in¬ 
creased.  Much  was  still  imported  from  England  and 
France  and  in  1787  France,  in  order  further  to  increase 
the  demand  removed  the  export  duty  on  what  was  bought 
by  the  United  States.  About  the  same  time  mills  for 
paper-hangings  were  running  in  Boston,  Pennsylvania  and 
New  Jersey.  In  nine  months  they  turned  out  ten  thousand 
pieces. 

By  1794  the  Boston  mills  were  producing  twenty-four 
thousand  pieces  annually,  for  the  demand  of  that  part  of  the 
country.  Within  the  first  decade  of  the  next  century  the 
mills  in  and  near  Philadelphia  were  producing  140,000 
pieces  annually,  valued  at  $97,417,  and  at  the  same  time 
mills  of  Providence,  R.  L,  were  making  eight  thousand 
pieces.  These  early  hangings  were  ordinary  in  appearance 
but  became  quickly  popular.  They  were  made  from  the 
coarsest  and  cheapest  rags  and  woolen  stuff,  in  sheets 
thirty  inches  long,  pasted  together ;  the  patterns  were 
stamped  upon  them  with  wooden  blocks  by  hand.^^^ 

In  1786  the  Society  of  Sciences  of  Philadelphia  offered 
a  premium  for  the  discovery  or  invention  of  a  process  for 
protecting  paper  from  the  attacks  of  insects  and  also  a 
premium  for  the  best  method  of  making  paper  for  the 

J.  L.  Bishop:  A  History  of  American  Manufactures  (1868),  I., 
p.  209.  A.  S.  Bolles :  Industrial  History  of  the  United  States 
(1879),  p.  467. 


100 


AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION 


V 

West  Indies — particularly  San  Domingo — especially  de¬ 
signed  for  resisting  the  attacks  of  insects  peculiar  to  that 
region.  Several  plans  were  submitted  with  samples,  all 
of  them  proposing  to  use  a  sizing  in  which  should  be 
mixed  ingredients  fatal  to  insect  life,  but  none  was  consid¬ 
ered  worthy  of  endorsement  by  the  society.^^® 

It  has  already  been  narrated  how  before  and  during  the 
revolution  state  encouragement  in  various  ways  was  given 
to  those  who  would  engage  in  paper-making.  With  the 
beginning  of  national  existence  this  policy  was  continued, 
only  now  it  was  not  merely  for  the  purpose  of  stimulating 
and  developing  the  industry  but  also  for  protecting  it  from 
foreign  competition.  An  early  effort  in  this  direction  was 
made  in  1785  when  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts  im¬ 
posed  a  duty  on  all  foreign  vellum  and  paper.  But  the 
people  had  not  yet  wholly  overcome  their  repugnance  to 
taxation  and  the  measure  did  not  receive  popular  approval ; 
accordingly  it  was  repealed. 

As  long  as  the  states  continued  under  the  old  confedera¬ 
tion  there  could  be  no  encouragement  in  a  broad  general 
way  to  domestic  industries.  The  confederation  had  no 
power  to  enact  commercial  legislation  or  to  enforce  treaties 
and  the  individual  states  were  distraut  by  inharmonious 
and  often  conflicting  laws.  The  new  constitution  of  1787 
and  the  government  organized  under  it  were  regarded  by 
the  agricultural,  commercial  and  manufacturing  classes  as 
giving  assurance  of  the  future  where,  before,  doubt  and 
uncertainty  had  prevailed.  All  departments  of  business 
were  infused  with  a  new  spirit  of  hopefulness  and  enter¬ 
prise.  Manufacturing,  although  still  considered  subordi¬ 
nate  in  importance  to  agriculture  and  commerce,  showed 
signs  of  a  development  that  promised  to  be  expansive  and 
healthful.  American  labor  began  steadily,  though  slowly 
at  first,  to  change  its  form  from  a  general  system  of  man¬ 
ual  operations,  isolated  and  local,  to  the  organized  efforts 
of  regular  establishments  with  associated  capital  and  cor¬ 
porate  privileges,  employing  more  or  less  of  the  new  ma- 

*“J.  L.  Bishop:  A  History  of  American  Manufactures  (1868), 
I.,  p.  206. 


101 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


chinery  which  was  then  coming  into  use  in  Europe.  The 
productive  classes  regarded  the  constitution  of  1787  as 
conferring  the  power  and  right  of  protection  to  the  infant 
manufactures  of  the  country  in  order  to  encourage  their 
increase  and  reasonably  to  insure  their  success. 

When  the  first  congress  assembled  in  March,  1789,  one 
of  the  first  petitions  presented  to  that  body  was  from  seven 
hundred  of  the  mechanics,  tradesmen  and  others  of  the 
town  of  Baltimore  lamenting  the  decline  of  manufactures 
and  trades  since  the  revolution  and  asking  an  early  atten¬ 
tion  to  the  encouragement  of  American  manufactures  by 
imposing  on  “all  foreign  articles  which  could  be  made  in 
America,  such  duties  as  would  give  a  decided  preference  to 
their  labors.”  This  petition  was  followed  by  memorials  of 
similar  tenor  from  tradesmen,  manufacturers  and  mechan¬ 
ics  of  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Charleston  and 
elsewhere.  In  response  to  these  expressions  of  public 
opinion  and  in  accord  with  the  general  views  of  the 
founders  of  the  republic  the  first  revenue  bill  which  be¬ 
came  the  basis  of  subsequent  tariff  acts  was  passed. 

In  the  debate  on  this  subject  in  the  national  house  of 
representatives,  April  17,  1789,  Representative  Clymer  of 
Pennsylvania  urged  the  claims  of  the  paper-makers  of  his 
state,  saying  that  “this  manufacture  is  certainly  an  impor¬ 
tant  one,  and  having  grown  up  under  legislative  encour¬ 
agement  it  will  be  wise  to  continue  it.”  A  duty  of  seven 
and  one-half  per  cent  ad  valorem  was  laid  on  blank  books, 
writing,  printing  and  wrapping  paper,  paper-hangings  and 
pasteboard,  and,  at  the  same  time,  provision  was  made  for 
the  admission  of  rags  free  of  duty.^-®  Such,  however,  was 
the  hesitancy  of  our  law-makers  at  that  time  in  regard  to 
matters  of  taxation  and  tariff  that  this  enactment  was  de¬ 
creed  for  a  temporary  period  only — from  August  1,  1789, 
to  August  31,  1790.  Before  its  expiration  in  1790  its  term 
of  life  was  extended  and  some  additions  were  made  to  it, 
parchment  and  vellum  being  placed  in  the  paper  schedule. 

Leander  Bishop:  A  History  of  American  Manufactures, 
(1868),  TL,  p.  15. 

’■■’Joseph  Gales:  The  Debates  and  Proceedings  of  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  Wasliington,  1834,  I.,  p.  174. 

102 


AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION 


In  1792  the  duty  on  paper-hangings  was  placed  at  fifteen 
per  cent  and  that  on  sheathing  and  cartridge  paper  at  ten 
per  cent.  By  enactment  of  June  7,  1794,  five  per  cent, 
more  was  added  to  the  duty  on  sheathing  and  cartridge. 
That  was  the  extent  of  tariff  legislation  on  paper  in  its 
various  forms  prior  to  1800.^^® 

Alexander  Hamilton,  first  secretary  of  the  treasury  of 
the  United  States,  in  his  famous  report  on  manufactures, 
communicated  to  the  house  of  representatives,  December 
5,  1791,  referred  to  paper  as  follows: 

“Manufactories  of  paper  are  among  those  which 
are  arrived  at  the  greatest  maturity  in  the  United 
States,  and  are  most  adequate  to  national  supply.  That 
of  paper-hanging  is  a  branch  in  which  respectable 
progress  has  been  made.  Nothing  material  seems 
wanting  to  the  further  success  of  this  valuable  branch 
which  is  already  protected  by  a  competent  duty  on 
similar  imported  articles.  In  the  enumeration  of  the 
several  kinds  made  subject  to  that  duty,  sheathing  and 
cartridge  paper  have  been  omitted.  These  being  the 
most  simple  manufactures  of  the  sort,  and  necessary 
to  military  supply,  as  well  as  ship  building,  recom¬ 
mend  themselves  equally  with  those  of  other  descrip¬ 
tions  to  encouragement,  and  appear  to  be  as  fully 
within  the  compass  of  domestic  exertions.” 


Tariff  Acts  Passed  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  from 
1789  to  1909,  House  Document,  671,  Congress,  2d  Session 
(1909),  pp.  14,  17,  35  and  41. 

Gales  and  Seaton :  Annals  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  1791-1793  (1849),  p.  10.10.  Henry  Cabot  Lodge:  The 
IVorks  of  Alexander  Hamilton  (1885),  III.,  p.  409. 


103 


CHAPTER  SIX 


INTO  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

Mills  Increased  in  Number  in  the  Eirst  Decade — 
Statistics  from  the  Census  of  1810  and  Isaiah 
Thomas'  Estimate — Business  Depression  After 
THE  War  of  1812 — Tariff  Protection  for  Paper — 
— Rags  Still  Continued  to  Be  Scarce— Some 
Prices  That  Prevailed  in  1815  and  1821 

IN  business  there  is  no  sharp  line  of  demarkation  be¬ 
tween  one  year  and  another,  one  decade  and  another, 
one  century  and  another.  Industry  moves  along,  up  or 
down,  as  the  case  may  be,  without  regard  to  chronology 
and  affected  by  influences  and  conditions  quite  other  than 
time.  Manufacturing,  in  all  lines,  in  the  United  States, 
advanced  rather  slowly  into  the  nineteenth  century.  It 
felt  the  stimulus  of  the  new  national  life  and  the  en¬ 
couragement  of  tariff  protection  but  did  not  spring  forward 
with  bounding  leaps. 

Paper  manufacturing  was  not  more  active  than  other 
occupations.  In  scope,  in  methods  and  in  general  character, 
it  continued  about  as  it  had  been  going  on  in  the  preceding 
decade  or  more,  and  the  first  quarter  of  the  century  had 
nearly  passed  before  any  decided  change  or  very  consider¬ 
able  development  in  it  was  exhibited.  Hamilton’s  state¬ 
ment,  in  1791,  that  “manufactories  of  paper  are  among 
those  which  are  arrived  at  the  greatest  maturity  in  the 
United  States,”  may  be  accepted  only  with  a  great  deal  of 
reserve  as  it  was  plainly  a  broad  generalization  rather  than 
a  frank  presentation  of  certifiable  fact. 

When  the  century  opened  there  were  probably  a  few 


104 


INTO  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


more  than  one  hundred  paper-mills  in  the  country.  Most 
of  these,  as  their  predecessors  for  a  generation  or  more  had 
been,  were  small  affairs,  feeble  in  every  respect,  in  capital 
invested,  in  equipment,  in  methods  used,  in  persons  em¬ 
ployed  and  in  amount  of  annual  product.  Some  of  them 
were  establishments  of  size  and  industrial  importance, 
measured  by  the  standards  of  that  time,  but  still  infantile  in 
comparison  with  the  majestic  mills  of  to-day.  Gradually 
the  number  increased,  until,  by  1810  or  thereabout,  probably 
more  than  two  hundred  mills  were  in  operation.  These 
figures  are  obtained  from  the  third  federal  census  report 
and  from  results  secured,  at  about  the  same  time,  by  a  pri¬ 
vate  investigator,  supplemented  by  information  from  local 
histories  and  other  sources. 

A  resolution  of  the  national  house  of  representatives, 
June  7,  1809,  called  upon  the  secretary  of  the  treasury, 
Albert  Gallatin,  to  report  on  the  subject  of  the  manufac¬ 
tures  of  the  country.  The  report  which  ensued,  although 
not  submitted  until  nearly  a  year  later,  was  generally  in¬ 
complete  and  defective.  The  difficulties  which,  it  had  been 
found,  hindered  the  securing  even  of  this  scant  informa¬ 
tion  constituted  the  prime  reasons  for  endeavoring  to 
gather  more  comprehensive  and  accurate  statistics  in  con¬ 
nection  with  the  impending  taking  of  the  third  decennial 
census.  Mr.  Gallatin  was  able  to  report  only  very  meagrely 
concerning  the  manufacturing  of  paper.  He  said : 

“Some  foreign  paper  is  still  imported,  but  the 
greater  part  of  the  consumption  is  of  American  manu¬ 
facture;  and  it  is  believed  that,  if  sufficient  attention 
was  everywhere  paid  to  the  preservation  of  rags,  a 
quantity  equal  to  the  demand  would  be  made  in  the 
United  States.  Paper  mills  are  erected  in  every  part 
of  the  Union.  There  are  twenty-one  in  the  states  of 
New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Rhode  Island  and  Dela¬ 
ware,  alone,  and  ten  in  only  five  counties  of  the  states 
of  New  York  and  Maryland.  Eleven  of  those  mills 
employ  a  capital  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and 
180  workmen,  and  make  annually  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars’  worth  of  paper.  .  .  .  But 

sufficient  data  have  not  been  obtained  to  form  an  esti¬ 
mate  of  the  annual  aggregate  value  of  the  paper  made 
.  .  other  than  what  may  be  inferred  from  the 

105 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


population.  The  manufactures  of  hanging  paper  and 
playing  cards  are  also  extensive. 

Immediately  following  the  presentation  of  this  report  in 
1810  came  the  planning  for  the  census.  In  this  the  first 
effort  was  made  by  the  government  to  gather  substantial 
statistics  relating  to  all  the  manufacturing  interests  of  the 
country,  information  that  was  felt  to  be  needful  in  the  con- 
“^ideration  of  tariff  and  other  legislation  affecting  business 
development.  The  marshals  and  their  assistants  were  di¬ 
rected  to  make  an  account  of  the  several  manufacturing 
establishments  and  manufactures  in  their  respective  dis¬ 
tricts  with  an  enumeration  of  their  annual  product  and 
other  details.  Commendable  in  intent  as  this  plan  was  it 
was  anything  but  successful  in  its  results.  Chily  a  limited 
time  was  possible  in  which  to  do  the  work.  Schedules  and 
instructions  were  not  drawn  up  and  furnished  to  the  census- 
takers  so  that  uniform  and  complete  information  should  be 
secured.  Manufacturers  were  not  yet  accustomed  to  such 
investigations  and  their  reluctance  to  supply  facts  con¬ 
cerning  their  business  affairs  could  not  be  readily  overcome. 

Therefore  the  returns  as  finally  made  were  irregular, 
deficient  and  to  some  extent  erroneous.  “Accounts  from  the 
different  states  and  territories,  and  even  from  divisions 
of  the  same  state,  varied  with  the  divergent  views  of  the 
agents,  their  intelligence,  industry  and  other  qualifications.” 
The  returns  fell  far  short  of  presenting  a  full  and  reliable 
statement  of  the  actual  number  and  condition  of  the  manu¬ 
factures  of  the  country. 

From  Pennsylvania,  Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  New 
York  and  Virginia  the  returns  were  more  nearly  complete, 
but  even  in  those  much  was  lacking  to  a  thoroughly 
comprehensive  and  dependable  exhibit.  In  other  states  and 
territories  the  deficiencies  were  even  more  marked.  In 
general  no  attempt  was  made  to  take  account  of  capital 
invested,  raw  material  used,  number  of  hands  employed  and 
cost  of  labor.  At  the  most  only  the  number  of  establish¬ 
ments,  the  machinery,  and  the  quantity  and  value  of  prod- 

Report  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  Gallatin  to  the  House  of 
Representatives,  April  17,  1810.  In  Gales  and  Seaton:  American 
State  Papers,  Class  III.,  Finance  (1832),  p.  428. 

106 


INTO  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


uct  were  given ;  and  even  in  these  particulars  errors  and 
omissions  were  abundant.  In  evidence  of  these  deficiencies 
many  examples  have  been  cited. 

“Thus  the  number  of  printing  offices — stated  by  Mr. 
[Isaiah]  Thomas,  a  competent  authority,  at  more  than 
400  in  1810 — was  returned  by  the  marshals  as  110. 
Bookbinders,  calico  printers  and  dyeing  establishments 
were  returned  only  for  one  state.  No  glass  works 
were  returned  for  Massachusetts,  which  had  long 
made  and  exported  glass  of  a  superior  quality  to  other 
states.  Bark  r«ills  were  given  for  only  one' state;  car¬ 
riage  makers  for  three ;  blacksmiths’  shops  for  five ; 
hatters  for  four;  tin  and  copperware  shops  for  two— - 
and  these  the  least  considerable  in  that  branch.  The 
number  of  tallow  candle  factories  in  Massachusetts 
was  not  given,  although  that  state  was  credited  with 
nearly  one-half  the  product  in  that  branch,  and  the 
same  was  the  case  with  morocco  factories.” 

Despite  all  these  shortcomings,  however,  the  returns  were 
interesting  as  the  first  systematic  official  statement  of  Amer¬ 
ican  manufactures  and  they  contained  a  great  deal  of  des¬ 
ultory  information  that  was  valuable.  After  futile  attempts 
had  been  made  to  digest  and  arrange  this  mass  of  material 
into  some  comprehensible  form,  the  secretary  of  the  treas¬ 
ury,  in  obedience  to  a  joint  resolution  of  both  houses  of  con¬ 
gress,  submitted  the  papers  for  examination  and  review  to 
Mr.  Tench  Coxe  of  Philadelphia,  a  recognized  authority  at 
that  time,  on  statistics  and  economics.  Mr.  Coxe  returned 
to  congress  in  June,  1813,  the  results  of  his  work,  and  in  his 
analysis  we  have  the  first  understandable  account,  meagre 
though  it  is,  of  the  manufacturing  pursuits  of  the  country. 

Paper-making  did  not  figure  large  in  that  census  report. 
The  marshals  returned  a  summary  of  $127,694,602  as  the 
value  of  all  the  manufactured  products  of  the  country  and 
of  that  amount  the  sum  of  $1,939,285  was  credited  to  manu¬ 
factures  of  paper,  pasteboard,  cards,  etc.  From  a  consid¬ 
eration  of  all  the  reported  details  and  estimation  of  manu- 

'”J.  L.  Bishop:  A  History  of  American  Manufacturers  (1868), 
II.,  p.  159. 


107 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


factures  which  were  omitted  or  imperfectly  returned  Mr. 
Coxe  amended  the  figures  of  the  marshals  by  extending  them 
to  $172,762,676,  slightly  more  than  thirty-five  per  cent. 
On  that  basis  of  calculation  the  value  of  products  under 
the  paper-making  schedule  would  rise  to  more  than 
$2,600,000  which  would  probably  be  not  an  overestimate. 
Paper  and  its  derivatives,  then,  constituted  only  about  two 
and  one-half  per  cent  of  the  total  manufactures  of  the 
country.  The  following  statement  accompanied  the  report : 


Statens,  Territories 

Value  OF 

AND  Districts 

Mills 

Reams 

Product 

Maine . 

.  2 

4,500 

$16,000 

Massachusetts  . 

.  23 

95,129 

290,951 

New  Hampshire.  . .  . 

.  6 

42,450 

Vermont . 

.  11 

23,350 

70,050 

Rhode  Island . 

.  3 

14,625 

53,297 

Connecticut  . 

.  19 

82,188 

New  York . 

.  28 

77,756 

233,268 

New  Jersey . 

.  14 

10,380 

49,750 

Pennsylvania  . 

.  64 

165,981 

626,749 

Delaware  . 

.  4 

75,000 

Maryland  . 

.  9 

22,200 

77,515 

Virginia . 

.  4 

3,000 

22,400 

Ohio  . 

.  2 

10,000 

Kentucky  . 

.  6 

6,200 

18,600 

North  Carolina . 

.  3 

2,400 

6,000 

East  Tennessee . 

.  2 

15,500 

South  Carolina . 

.  1 

District  of  Columbia 

.  1 

— 

202 

425,521 

1,689,718 

A  few  more  than  one  half  of  these  mills  were  in  New 
York,  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  and  more  than  sixty 
were  in  New  England,  while  those  remaining  were  scat¬ 
tered  in  nine  smaller  states  and  territories,  among  which 
Maryland  was  conspicuous  with  nine  and  Kentucky  with 
six.  In  addition  to  the  foregoing  tabulation  of  products 
the  mills  of  Massachusetts  were  credited  with  twenty-two 
thousand  five  hundred  rolls  of  paper,  Rhode  Island  with 


108 


INTO  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


eighty-eight  and  three-quarter  tons  and  Pennsylvania  with 
three  hundred  and  forty  tons.^®° 

At  the  same  time  that  the  United  States  marshals  and 
their  assistants  were  engaged  in  collecting  these  facts,  Mr. 
Isaiah  Thomas  was  carrying  on  a  similar  investigation  and 
evidently  with  more  conscientiousness  and  intelligence. 
He  found  that  the  total  number  of  mills  which  he  could 
trace  was  one  hundred  and  ninety-five,  and  was  certain  that 
more  existed.  His  statement  of  the  result  of  his  re¬ 
search  was : 

“My  endeavors  to  obtain  an  accurate  account  of  the 
paper  mills  in  the  United  States  have  not  succeeded 
agreeably  to  my  wishes,  as  I  am  not  enabled  to  pro¬ 
cure  a  complete  list  of  the  mills,  and  the  quantity  of 
paper  manufactured  in  all  the  states.  I  have  not  re¬ 
ceived  any  particulars  that  can  be  relied  on  from  some 
of  the  states ;  but  I  believe  the  following  statement 
will  come  near  the  truth.  From  the  information  I 
have  collected  it  appears  that  the  mills  for  manufac¬ 
turing  paper  are  in  number  about  one  hundred  and 
eighty-five  [sic],  viz.:  in  New  Hampshire,  7;  Massa¬ 
chusetts,  40;  Rhode  Island,  4;  Connecticut,  17 ;  Ver¬ 
mont,  9;  New  York,  12;  Delaware,  10;  Maryland,  3; 
Virginia,  4;  South  Carolina,  1;  Kentucky,  6;  Ten¬ 
nessee,  4 ;  Pennsylvania,  about  sixty ;  in  all  other 
states  and  territories,  say  18.  Total  195,  in  the  year 
1810. 

“At  these  mills  it  may  be  estimated  that  there  are 
manufactured  annually  50,000  reams  of  paper,  which 
is  consumed  in  the  publication  of  22,500,000  news¬ 
papers.  This  kind  of  paper  is  at  various  prices  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  quality  and  size,  and  will  average  three 
dollars  per  ream ;  at  which  this  quantity  will  amount 
to  150,000  dollars.  The  weight  of  the  paper  will  be 
about  500  tons. 

“The  paper  manufactured  and  used  for  book  print¬ 
ing  may  be  calculated  at  about  70,000  reg,ms  per  an¬ 
num,  a  considerable  part  of  which  is  used  for  spelling 
and  other  small  school  books.  This  paper  is  also  of 
various  qualities  and  prices,  of  which  the  average  rhay 
be  three  dollars  and  a  half  per  ream,  and  at  that  price 
it  will  amount  to  245,000  dollars,  and  may  weigh 
about  630  tons. 


“•Gales  and  Seaton:  American  State  Papers,  Class  III.,  Fin¬ 
ance  (1832),  II.,  pp.  666  and  706. 

109 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


“Of  writing  paper,  supposing  each  mill  should  make 
600  reams  per  annum,  it  will  amount  to  1 10,000  reams, 
which  at  the  average  price  of  three  dollars  per  ream 
will  be  equal  in  value  to  333,000  dollars,  and  the 
weight  of  it  will  be  about  650  tons. 

“Of  wrapping  paper  the  quantity  made  may  be  com¬ 
puted  at  least  at  100,000  reams,  which  will  amount  to 
about  83,000  dollars. 

“Beside  the  preceding  articles,  of  paper  for  hang¬ 
ings,  for  clothiers,  for  cards,  bonnets,  cartridge  paper, 
paste-boards,  etc.,  a  sufficient  quantity  is  made  for 
home  consumption. 

“Most  of  the  mills  in  New  England  have  two  vats 
each.  Some  in  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware 
and  Maryland  have  three  or  more.  Those  with  two 
vats  can  make,  of  various  descriptions  of  paper,  from 
2,000  to  3,000  reams  per  annum.  A  mill  with  two  vats 
requires  a  capital  of  about  10,000  dollars,  and  employs 
twelve  or  more  persons,  consisting  of  men,  boys  and 
girls.  Collecting  rags,  making  paper,  etc.,  may  be 
said  to  give  employment  to  not  less  than  2,500  persons 
in  the  United  States. 

“Some  of  the  mills  are  known  to  make  upwards  of 
3,000  reams  of  writing  paper  per  annum;  a  few  do 
not  make  any ;  but  there  are  not  many  that  make  less 
than  500  reams.  The  quantity  of  rags,  old  sails,  ropes, 
junk,  and  other  substances  of  which  various  kinds  of 
paper  and  paste-boards  are  made,  may  be  computed 
to  amount  to  not  less  than  three  thousand  five  hundred 
tons  yearly. 

During  the  second  struggle  with  Great  Britain,  1812- 
1816,  paper-manufacturing,  in  common  with  other  indus¬ 
tries,  was  very  much  hampered  by  the  continued  shortage 
of  raw  material  and  the  difficulty  of  procuring  moulds  and 
engines  from  abroad.  Rise  in  the  wages  paid  to  workmen 
and  in  the  cost  of  all  machinery  and  materials  led  to  high 
prices  and  a  contracted  production  that  materially  affected 
the  users  of  paper  who  were  also  deprived  of  the  impor¬ 
tations  that  they  had  heretofore  been  able  to  rely  upon. 

War  brought  other  troubles,  aggravating  though  minor, 
to  the  printers.  British  ships  infested  American  waters 

Isaiah  Thomas :  The  History  of  Printing  in  America,  I., 
p.  25.  Vol.  V.  of  Transactions  and  Collections  of  the  American 
Antiquarian  Society  (1874). 


110 


INTO  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


and  interfered  with  domestic  commerce.  Even  closed-in 
waters,  like  Long  Island  Sound,  were  not  free  from  them 
and  ships  sailing  in  and  out  of  the  port  of  New  York  were 
often  in  danger.  One  incident  of  the  kind  was  recorded 
by  one  of  the  victims  who,  however,  as  will  be  seen  from 
his  announcement,  endeavored  to  turn  it  to  his  advantage, 
as  much  as  might  be.  On  October  9,  1814,  the  packet 
Susan,  commanded  by  Captain  John  Miles,  sailing  from 
New  York  to  New  Haven,  Conn.,  was  captured  by  a  Brit¬ 
ish  sloop  of  war  off  the  harbor  of  Bridgeport.  Part  of  her 
cargo  was  printing  paper  for  the  New  Haven  newspapers 
as  appears  from  the  following : 

“Our  Patrons  must  pardon  us  for  giving  them  a 
very  inferior  quality  ©f  paper  this  week.  Fortune  has 
frowned  upon  the  printer,  and  placed  in  the  hands  of 
the  enemy,  by  the  capture  of  the  Susan,  our  stock  of 
paper  for  several  months,  worth  between  200  and  300 
dollars.  It  will  be  obtained,  however,  by  paying 
nearly  its  value  over  again.  Our  friends  who  are  in 
arrears  at  this  office,  it  is  hoped,  will  not  remember 
to  forget  the  publisher  at  this  time.”^®^ 

On  the  whole,  however,  paper-making  seems  to  have  been 
less  affected  than  other  manufacturing  by  conditions  aris¬ 
ing  from  the  war.  In  many  lines  of  business  there  had 
been  a  certain  unhealthful  inflation  in  consequence  of  in¬ 
creased  domestic  demand  and  naturally  resultant  high 
prices ;  and  much  capital  was  put  into  new  undertakings 
which  despite  all  drawbacks  were  quite  generally  profitable. 

Paper-manufacturing  does  not  appear  to  have  taken 
much,  if  any  part,  in  this  expansion,  and  its  development 
proceeded  normally  and  if  anything  rather  slowly.  Never¬ 
theless  it  could  not  escape  from  the  general  business  de¬ 
pression  that  followed  the  war,  mostly  brought  about  by 
the  flooding  of  the  market  with  foreign  goods  under  a 
policy  which  was  declared  openly  in  the  British  parliament 
to  be  quite  worth  while  “in  order  by  the  glut  to  stifle  in  the 
cradle  the  rising  manufactures  in  the  United  States,  which 
the  war  had  forced  into  existence,  contrary  to  the  natural 
course  of  things.”  Thus  declared  Lord  Brougham,  his 

^New  Haven  Columbian  Register,  October  18,  1814. 


Ill 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


“contrary  to  the  natural  course  of  things”  being  merely, 
intentional  or  otherwise,  a  euphemistic  expression  of  “con¬ 
trary  to  the  interests  of  Great  Britain.” 

Much  of  the  investigating,  debating  and  legislating  in 
the  early  congresses  of  the  United  States  pertained  to  the 
establishing  and  upbuilding  of  American  industries  and 
their  protection  from  imperious  foreign  competition.  The 
experiences  of  the  colonial  and  revolutionary  periods  had 
not  been  forgotten  by  the  generations  that  had  come  since 
then,  and  like  problems  seemed  to  be  still  pressing.  In 
February,  1816,  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  A.  J.  Dallas, 
at  request  of  Congress,  transmitted  to  that  body  a  review 
of  the  existing  tariff  of  the  United  States  and  a  proposition 
for  changes  in  the  tariff  duties.  In  this  communication  he 
divided  the  manufactures  of  the  country  into  three  classes, 
in  the  first  of  which,  “manufactures  which  are  firmly  and 
permanently  established,  and  which  wholly,  or  almost 
wholly,  supply  the  demand  for  domestic  use  and  consump¬ 
tion,”  he  placed  paper  of  every  description  and  blank  books. 
In  a  schedule  of  articles  to  be  imported  free  of  duty  under 
his  proposed  general  tariff  he  placed  “rags,  of  any  kind  of 
cloth,”  and  advised  a  duty  of  thirty-five  per  cent,  on  “paper 
of  every  description,  paper  hangings,  blank  books,  paste¬ 
board,  parchment,  vellum  and  printed  books.”  The  duty 
then  existing  on  paper  was  fifteen  per  cent.,  and  the  pro¬ 
posed  duty  represented  an  increase  of  133}^  per  cent.,  a 
larger  increase  than  that  upon  any  other  articles  except 
clothing  and  woolens. 

During  these  years  petitions  continued  constantly  to 
come  to  Congress  from  all  parts  of  the  country  urging 
prohibition  of  or  increased  duties  on  foreign  manufactures, 
but  these  were  not  always  immediately  responded  to  in  a 
manner  effectively  to  meet  the  situation.  The  tariff  acts 
of  1816  and  1818  were  only  measurably  successful.  Em¬ 
barrassments,  still  in  consequence  of  the  unchecked  im¬ 
portation  of  foreign  goods,  and  the  inflated  and  depre¬ 
ciated  paper  currency,  continued  to  press  heavily  upon  the 


Gales  and  Seaton :  American  State  Papers,  Class  HI.  Fi¬ 
nance  (1832),  III,  pp,  85-93. 


112 


INTO  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


manufacturing  interests  and  culminated,  in  1819,  in  ex¬ 
treme  business  distress. 

A  memorial  of  the  Society  of  Paper-Makers  of  the 
States  of  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware,  of  which  Mark 
Willcox  was  president  and  Thomas  Gilpin  secretary,  was 
presented  to  Congress  in  1820,  asking  for  further  tariff 
protection.  In  this  memorial  it  was  stated  that  in  the  dis¬ 
trict  represented  by  the  society  there  had  been  erected 
seventy  paper-mills,  which  were  in  full  operation  until 
interfered  with  by  importations  after  the  war.  These 
mills  had  ninety-five  vats  which  had  cost  to  install  about 
$500,000;  they  gave  employment  to  nine  hundred  and  fifty 
persons,  half  of  them  women  and  children,  at  a  total 
amount  of  annual  wages  of  $217,000;  they  consumed  an¬ 
nually  two  thousand  six  hundred  tons  of  rags,  valued  at 
$260,000,  and  produced  about  $800,000  worth  of  paper  a 
year.  Owing  to  the  depression  in  business  there  were,  in 
1820,  only  seventeen  vats  working,  paying  an  annual 
amount  of  wages  of  $45,000,  having  a  production  of 
$136,000  annually,  and  thus  leaving  unemployed  seven 
hundred  and  fifty-five  persons,  with  a  loss  of  two  thou¬ 
sand  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  tons  of  rags  con¬ 
sumed,  valued,  $212,800,  with  loss  of  $624,000  in  manufac¬ 
tured  product.  The  memorialists  asked  that  a  duty  of 
twenty-five  cents  per  pound  be  imposed  on  all  writing, 
printing  and  copper-plate  papers  and  fifteen  cents  per 
pound  on  all  others. 

Rags  continued  to  be  quite  as  indispensable  and  quite 
as  difficult  to  procure,  throughout  this  period,  as  they  had 
been  in  the  preceding  generations.  For  more  than  a  hun¬ 
dred  years  the  education  of  the  public  in  the  importance  of 
saving  rags  in  order  to  have  paper  had  gone  on  unremit¬ 
tingly,  but  still  all  that  was  desired  and  necessary  in  that 
direction  had  not  been  accomplished.  The  system  of  calling 
for  rags  from  house  to  house,  that  lasted  until  well  toward 
the  end  of  the  century,  had  been  started  and  resulted  in 
much,  but  not  enough,  and  it  was  to  be  long  before  impor- 

Gales  and  Seaton:  American  State  Papers,  Class  III.,  Fi¬ 
nance,  III.,  (1832),  p.  462. 


113 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  m  the  UNITED  STATES 


tations  from  abroad  relieved  the  situation  to  any  material 
degree.  The  tin-peddler  with  his  wagon  laden  with  tin¬ 
ware,  and  all  sorts  of  other  things  for  household  needs, 
which  he  would  swap  for  old  rags,  was  a  familiar  sight  in 
the  country  towns ;  in  fact,  he  became  for  a  time  a  national 
institution.  Many  are  the  “old  boys”  of  the  present  gen¬ 
eration  who  remember  how  as  “young  boys”  they  earned 
their  first  pennies  for  candy  or  for  the  circus  by  hunting 
and  saving  rags  anent  the  coming  of  these  itinerant 
barterers. 

And  yet  withal  the  mills  were  constrained  to  continue, 
without  relaxing,  the  same  strenuous  campaign  that  had 
gone  on  for  years,  begging  for  the  wherewithal  to  keep 
their  mills  going.  A  few  illustrations  will  sufficiently 
serve  as  examples  of  methods  that  were  still  pursued 
throughout  the  country.  When  Zenas  Crane  and  his  part¬ 
ners  were  ready  to  build  the  first  mill  in  western  Massa¬ 
chusetts  this  was  the  way  in  which  they  made  known  their 
intentions  and  their  needs : 

“AMERICANS! 

“Encourage  Your  Own  Manufactories 
“And  They  Will  Improve. 

“Ladies,  Save  Your  RAGS ! 

“As  the  Subscribers  have  it  in  contemplation  to 
erect  a  paper  mill  in  Dalton  the  ensuing  spring;  and 
the  business  being  very  beneficial  to  the  community 
at  large,  they  flatter  themselves  that  they  shall  meet 
with  due  encouragement.  And  that  every  woman 
who  has  the  good  of  her  country,  and  the  interests 
of  her  own  family,  at  heart,  will  patronize  them  by 
saving  her  rags,  and  sending  them  to  their  Manufac¬ 
tory,  or  to  the  nearest  Store  Keeper ;  for  which  the 
Subscribers  will  give  a  generous  price. 

“Henry  Wiswell, 
“Zenas  Crane, 

“John  Willard. 

“Worcester,  February  8,  1801. 

John  Clark  &  Co.,  who  leased  and  operated  the  first  mill 
built  in  the  Black  river  country,  soon  after  1807,  gave 

'’^The  PittsHeld  Sun,  February  8,  1801. 


114 


INTO  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


notice  that  they  wanted  rags,  which  would  be  received  for 
them  in  the  principal  stores  in  upper  Canada  and  the  Black 
river  country.  To  their  advertisement  they  added  a. poetic 
plea  to  the  ladies  to  help  them. 

“Sweet  ladies,  pray  be  not  offended. 

Nor  mind  the  jest  of  sneering  wags; 

No  harm,  believe  us,  is  intended. 

When  humbly  we  request  your  rags. 

“The  scraps,  which  you  reject,  unfit 
To  clothe  the  tenant  of  a  hovel. 

May  shine  in  sentiment  and  wit. 

And  help  to  make  a  charming  novel. 

“The  cap  exalted  thoughts  will  raise. 

The  ruffle  in  description  •flourish  ; 

Whilst  on  the  glowing  work  we  gaze, 

The  thought  will  love  excite  and  nourish. 

“Each  beau  in  study  will  engage. 

His  fancy  doubtless  will  be  warmer. 

When  writing  on  the  milk-white  page, 

Which  once,  perhaps,  adorn’d  his  charmer. 

“Though  foreigners  may  sneer  and  vapor. 

We  no  longer  forc’d  their  books  to  buy, 
Our  gentle  Belles  will  furnish  paper. 

Our  sighing  Beau  will  wit  supply. 

Seth  Hawley,  a  native  of  Connecticut,  moved  to  Moreau, 
Saratoga  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1793  and,  in  1808,  with  his 
younger  brother,  Alpheus  Hawley,  erected  there  a  paper 
mill.  This  was  the  fervid  appeal  that  they  put  out  in  order 
to  secure  the  necessary  raw  material  for  their  enterprise : 

“Save  Your  Rags! 

“This  exclamation  is  particularly  addressed  to  the 
ladies,  both  young,  old  and  middle  aged,  throughout 
the  northern  part  of  this  state,  by  the  subscribers, 
who  have  erected  a  paper  mill  in  the  town  of  Moreau, 
near  Fort  Edward.  Nor  is  it  thought  that  this  appeal 
to  our  fair  country  women  will  prove  unavailing  when 
they  reflect  that  without  their  assistance  they  cannot 
be  supplied  with  the  useful  article  of  paper.  If  the 
necessary  stock  is  denied  the  paper  mills,  young 

‘"Franklin  B.  Hough:  A  History  of  Lewis  County  in  the  State 
of  New  York  (1860),  p.  181.  The  Black  River  Gazette,  Novem¬ 
ber  9,  1907. 


115 


Seth  Hawley. 

A  Pioneer  Paper-Manufacturer  of  New  York. 

Reproduced  from  an  old  engraving  in  Hawley^s  The  Hawley  Record. 


INTO  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


maidens  must  languish  in  vain  for  tender  epistles  from 
their  respective  swains ;  bachelors  may  be  reduced  to 
the  necessity  of  a  personal  attendance  upon  the  fair, 
when  a  written  communication  would  be  an  excellent 
substitute.  For  clean  cotton  and  linen  rags  of  every 
color  and  description,  matrons  can  be  furnished  with 
bibles,  spectacles  and  snuff ;  mothers  with  grammars, 
spelling  books  and  primers  for  their  children ;  and 
young  misses  may  be  supplied  with  bonnets,  ribbons 
and  ear  rings  for  the  decoration  of  their  persons  (by 
means  of  which  they  may  obtain  husbands)  ;  or  by 
sending  them  to  the  mill  they  may  receive  cash.”^®^ 

Early  in  the  century  David  Buel  of  Troy,  who  was  one 
of  the  leading  men  in  business  and  public  affairs  in  that 
section  of  the  state,  and  for  many  years  postmaster,  owned 
and  operated  a  mill  on  Wynantskill.  This  was  swept 
away  by  a  freshet  in  1814,  but  a  few  years  later,  on  another 
site,  he  erected  a  second  mill,  which  continued  to  be  used 
under  various  owners  for  more  than  fifty  years.**®  Buel 
had  given  active  encouragement  to  the  gathering  of  rags 
for  the  first  mill  near  Troy  in  1792,  and  now  he  found 
himself  obliged  to  make  similar  earnest  pleas  on  behalf  of 
his  own  enterprise.  This  was  the  way  in  which  he  called 
for  the  paper-maker’s  staple  : 

“Please  Save  Your  Rags.  The  press  contributes 
more  to  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  and  information 
than  any  other  medium ;  rags  are  the  primary  requisite 
in  the  manufacture  of  paper,  and  without  paper  the 
newspapers  of  our  country,  those  cheap,  useful  and 
agreeable  companions  of  the  citizen  and  the  farmer, 
which,  in  a  political  and  moral  view,  are  of  the  highest 
national  importance,  must  decline  and  be  extinguished. 
The  paper  mills  of  the  State,  could  the  poor  and  the 
opulent,  the  farmer  and  the  mechanic,  be  persuaded 
into  a  laudable  frugality  of  saving  rags,  would  turn 
out  ample  supplies  of  American  paper  to  answer  all 
demands.  The  people  of  Massachusetts  and  Con¬ 
necticut,  with  true  American  zeal,  have  introduced 
this  exemplary  saving  into  the  economy  of  their 


Elias  S.  Hawley:  The  Hawley  Record  (1890),  p.  479.  Joel 
Munsell :  Chronology  of  Paper-making  (1876),  p. 

‘“Arthur  J.  Weise:  Troy’s  One  Hundred  Years  (1891),  p.  274. 
Arthur  J.  Weise:  Troy  and  Vicinity  (1886),  p.  229. 


117 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


houses.  The  latter,  by  fair  circulation,  makes  yearly 
a  saving  of  rags  to  the  actual  amount  of  $50,000.  The 
ladies  in  several  of  the  large  towns  display  an  elegant 
work  bag  as  part  of  the  furniture  of  their  parlors,  in 
which  every  rag  that  is  used  in  the  paper  mill  is  care¬ 
fully  preserved.  Were  this  example  imitated,  this 
State  would  not  be  drained  of  its  circulating  cash  for 
paper  and  other  manufactures  which  American  artists 
can  furnish.  The  poor,  by  the  mere  saving  of  rags, 
may  be  enabled  to  procure  paper  and  books  for  school 
and  family  use  and  more  agreeable  articles  of  dress 
or  consumption.  The  rich  who  regard  the  interests 
of  their  country  will  direct  their  children  or  domestics 
to  place  a  bag  or  box  in  some  convenient  place  as  a 
deposit  for  rags,  that  none  be  lost  by  being  swept  into 
the  street  or  fire,  the  sales  of  which  savings  will  re¬ 
ward  the  attention  of  the  faithful  servant  and  encour¬ 
age  the  prosperous  habit  of  prudence  and  enter¬ 
prise.”'®^ 

In  1815  Cramer,  Spear  &  Eichbaum  of  Pittsburg,  Penn., 
were  operating  a  paper-mill  in  connection  with  their  print¬ 
ing  and  publishing  business.  In  an  announcement  of  this 
they  put  in  the  usual  plea  for  rags : 

“C.  S.  &  E.  have  in  complete  operation  their  Paper 
Mill  on  Little  Beaver,  from  which  they  will  receive  a 
constant  supply  of  the  various  kinds  of  writing  paper, 
wrapping  paper,  bonnet  and  fuller’s  boards,  etc.” 

“Rags!  Rags! 

“We  again  entreat  our  economical  and  industrious 
housewives  to  take  care  that  not  an  atom  of  this  val¬ 
uable  article  is  lost. 

“To  them  you  are  indebted  for  your  bible,  the  edu¬ 
cation  of  your  children ;  and  the  fair  maid,  however 
nice,  in  handling  those  nasty  things,  will  have  the 
means  of  holding  a  correspondence  with  what  she 
holds  most  dear  on  this  earth — a  sweetheart — see  how 
important. 

“For  good  clean  linen  and  cotton  RAGS,  four 
cents  in  cash  and  five  in  books,  is  given  per 
pound  at  the  Franklin  Head  BookstoreF'^*^ 

Until  the  new  century  was  well  under  way  importations 


'“Joel  Munsell:  Chronology  of  Paper  and  Paper-making 
(1876),  p.  57. 

^“Cramer's  Pittsburg  Almanac,  1815. 


118 


INTO  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


of  paper  continued  to  be  heavy  despite  all  efforts  to  pre¬ 
vent  it.  Much  of  the  writing  paper  of  this  period,  as  the 
correspondence  that  has  been  preserved  gives  evidence, 
bore  the  royal  arms  and  other  foreign  watermarks.  Letters 
of  Harmar,  St.  Clair,  Wilkinson,  Wayne  and  others  of  the 
post-revolution  period  and  later  show  this.  Prior  to  1820 
the  United  States  senate  used  paper  that  was  manufac¬ 
tured  in  Europe;  some  of  it  had  the  water-mark,  “Na¬ 
poleon,  Empereur  et  Roi,  1813.”  This  use  of  foreign  paper 
continued  despite  the  offer  of  the  Gilpin  mills  to  furnish 
equally  good  paper  at  twenty-five  per  cent,  less  cost. 
About,  or  soon  after,  1820  Simeon  and  Asa  Butler  of  Suf- 
field.  Conn.,  supplied  to  the  national  senate  the  first 
American-made  paper  used  by  that  legislative  body. 

Prices  for  paper  were  then  high,  all  things  considered. 
One  record  of  the  prevailing  prices  has  been  preserved 
in  a  report  presented  to  the  national  house  of  representa¬ 
tives,  in  January,  1821,  by  the  committee  on  manufactures. 
The  committee  favored  imposing  higher  tariff  duties  for 
the  protection  of  manufactures,  and  included  in  their  re¬ 
port  a  statement  of  the  kinds  of  paper  then  made  in  the 


United  States, 

with  ream 

weights  and  wholesale  prices. 

Pounds 

Value 

Kind  of  Paper. 

Per  Ream. 

Per  Ream 

Quarto  post  . . 

.  7 

$4.00 

Folio  post  . . . . 

.  16 

9.00 

Stout  demy  writing . 

.  22 

10.00 

Stout  medium  writing  . .  . 

.  28 

22.00 

Stout  royal  writing  . 

.  34 

16.00 

Stout  super-royal  writing 

.  40 

18.00 

Stout  imperial 

writing  . 

.  45 

20.00 

Foolscap  writing  No.  1 . . . 

.  15 

4.00 

{<  (( 

No.  2. . . 

.  13 

3.50 

(t  it 

No.  3. .. 

.  12 

3.00 

Demy  “ 

No.  1... 

.  16 

5.00 

<<  li 

No.  2. .. 

.  16 

4.50 

H 

No.  3. .. 

.  16 

4.00 

H  (( 

No.  4. .. 

.  16 

3.25 

<<  (i 

No.  5. . . 

.  16 

2.75 

Medium  “ 

No.  1... 

.  18 

6.00 

119 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


Medium  writing  No.  2 . 

18 

$5.00 

ii  a 

No.  3 . 

18 

4.50 

“  “ 

No.  4 . 

18 

3.75 

No.  5 . 

18 

3.00 

Royal 

No.  1 . 

20 

7.00 

“ 

No.  2 . 

20 

6.00 

“ 

No.  3 . 

20 

5.00 

“  “ 

No.  4 . 

20 

4.00 

a  ( i 

No.  5 . 

20 

3.50 

Super-royal 

No.  4 . 

22 

4.50 

Super-royal 

No.  5 . 

22 

4.00 

Imperial 

No.  4 . 

25 

4.75 

Imperial 

No.  5 . 

25 

4.25 

Fuller’s  press  papers  were  generally  sold  at  twenty  cents 
per  pound.  Sheathing  paper  and  paper  used  by  sugar  re¬ 
finers  sold  for  about  eight  cents  per  pound.  Common 
wrapping  paper,  sold  by  the  ream,  was  graded  in  different 
sizes,  as  cap,  pot,  crown,  demy,  royal,  super-royal,  and  so 
on,  and  sold  at  from  six  to  eight  cents  per  pound.  Tissue 
paper,  used  mostly  for  protecting  copper-plate  engravings 
in  books,  was  commonly  made  on  medium-sized  moulds, 
weighed  about  six  pounds  per  ream  and  was  worth  about 
six  dollars  per  ream,  commanding  its  high  price  on  ac¬ 
count  of  its  being  made  in  part  out  of  new  stuff. 
Super-royal  printing  was  seldom  finer  than  No.  4.’*’- 
Standard  sizes  of  moulds  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
hand-made  paper  were:  Foolscap,  14^4x16%  inches; 
littrice,  15^xl6^:4 ;  demy,  16x21  ;  extra  royal,  21^2x253/2  ; 
super  royal,  2034x2/34  ;  imperial,  2234x30^  ;  post,  I7x 
21^;  medium,  18x23;  royal.  21x24;  manslaughter,  22x32; 
atlas,  2634x33.  Bank  paper  was  made  foolscap.  Papers 
were  assorted  into  four  grades,  styled  in  the  order  of  their 
perfection :  whole,  first  retree,  second  retree,  third  retree  or 
broken.  Each  ream  consisted  of  eighteen  quires  of  its  par¬ 
ticular  grade  and  two  quires  of  broken  sheets,  one  on  the 
top  and  one  on  the  bottom  of  the  ream.  Newspapers  were 
often  printed  on  paper  of  the  second  or  third  quality. 

Gales  and  Seaton :  American  State  Papers,  Class  III.,  Fi¬ 
nance,  III.  (1832),  p.  628. 


120 


INTO  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


For  some  years  after  the  erection  of  Joseph  Markle’s 
first  mill  at  West  Newton,  Penn.,  Pittsburg  was  head¬ 
quarters  for  the  sale  of  all  kinds  of  paper.  An  advertise¬ 
ment  in  Cramer’s  Pittsburg  Almana€,  for  1815,  published 
by  Cramer,  Spear  and  Eichbaum,  printers,  booksellers  and 
publishers  of  that  city,  gives  the  prices  that  prevailed  at 
that  time  in  that  part  of  the  country. 

“C.  S.  &  E.  Having  their  PAPER  MILL  in  com¬ 
plete  operation,  will  be  enabled  to  furnish  at  all  times 
the  various  sizes  and  qualities  of  paper  on  the  fol¬ 
lowing  terms : 


Royal 

Writing  . 

. .$22  00 

per  ream 

Medium 

do  1st  quality  .  . 

. .  18  00 

do 

Medium 

do  2nd  quality  . 

. ..  14  00 

do 

Uemi 

do  . 

. .  10  00 

do 

Folio  . 

Post . 

..  9  00 

do 

Quarto 

do  . 

. .  4  50 

do 

Fancy 

do  . 

. .  5  00 

do 

Foolscap 

No.  1  . 

. .  4  50 

do 

do 

No.  1,  retree . 

. .  4  00 

do 

do 

No.  2 . 

. .  4  00 

do 

do 

No.  2,  retree . 

. .  3  50 

do 

do 

No  3  . 

. .  3  50 

do 

do 

No.  3,  retree . 

..  3  25 

do 

Medium  Wrapping . 

..  2  75 

do 

Crown 

do  . 

. .  2  25 

do 

Foolscap 

do  . 

..  1  75 

do 

Bonnet  Boards . 

. .  9  50 

per  gross. 

Fullers 

do  from  25  to  33J/2 

per  m.” 

121 


CHAPTER  SEVEN 


A  STEADILY  GROWING  INDUSTRY 

The  Famous  Ames  Manufacturers  and  Their  Work — 
First  Mills  in  Berkshire  County,  Mass. — Other 
Mills,  Old  and  New,  in  Massachusetts,  Con¬ 
necticut  AND  Elsewhere — Scant  Statistics  From 
THE  Fourth  Decennial  Census,  in  1820 — Old- 
Time  Mill  Equipment  and  Old-Time  Papermakers 

Advanced  fully  into  the  second  century  of  its 
existence  American  paper-manufacturing  had 
finally  established  itself  in  a  fixed  position  among  the  fore¬ 
most  manual  activities  of  the  new  nation.  Compared  with 
some  other  lines  of  business  it  was  not  yet  predominantly 
important,  in  capital  invested,  in  people  employed,  in  raw 
material  used  or  in  annual  output.  Still,  even  though 
relatively  small  in  those  respects,  no  longer  was  it  merely 
a  local  or  neighborhood  aflfair,  as  generally  it  had  been  in 
the  past,  save  in  the  instance  of  those  few  mills  that  had 
achieved  wider  distinction  by  reason  of  success  in  grow¬ 
ing  bigger,  in  broadening  their  scope  of  operations  and 
in  extending  their  markets.  In  the  census-taking  of  1810, 
it  was  one  of  the  twenty-three  industries  specifically  in¬ 
cluded  and  only  ten  stood  ahead  of  it  in  the  value  of  its 
manufactured  product.  It  ranked  below  woollen,  cotton 
and  silk  goods,  machinery  and  carding-cloths,  hats, 
manufactures  of  iron,  manufactures  of  gold  and  silver, 
soap  and  oil  products,  manufactures  of  hides  and  skins, 
liquors,  manufactures  of  wood,  and  cables  and  cordage. 
It  was  superior  to  soap  and  oil  products,  refined  sugars, 
glass  and  earthenware,  and  tobacco. 


122 


A  STEADILY  GROWING  INDUSTRY 


When,  as  down  to  the  breaking  out  of  the  revolution, 
less  than  twenty  mills  in  eight  colonies — and  those  mostly 
indeed  in  Pennsylvania  and  Massachusetts — had  covered 
the  entire  industry,  the  particular,  detailed  history  of 
those  several  establishments,  even  though  only  few  of 
them  ever  rose  to  commanding  importance,  was,  in  the 
largest  sense,  a  comprehensive  history  of  the  whole.  Now, 
however,  the  individual  mill,  save  in  exceptional  instances, 
began  to  count  for  less  than  heretofore,  for  its  conspicuous 
and  influential  identity  was  merged  in  the  broader  con¬ 
siderations  of  the  entire  institution.  The  industry  had 
grown  and  expanded  beyond  the  measure  of  any  of  its 
single  representatives,  was  gradually  becoming  more  and 
more  of  national  consequence,  was  making  a  not  insig¬ 
nificant  part  of  the  history  of  the  country,  was  affecting 
and  being  affected  by  others,  and  was  exercising  a  con¬ 
siderable  and  steadily  increasing  influence  upon  the  life  of 
the  people.  It  becariie  involved  in  the  questions  of  the 
tariffs ;  it  was  often  a  prime  factor  in  establishing  and 
assisting  in  the  growth  of  new  communities. 

It  is  in  these  later  aspects  that  the  history  of  the  industry 
becomes  more  impressively  interesting  and  more  vitally 
important.  From  this  point  on  the  record  is  one  of  devel¬ 
opment  in  widely  separated  parts  of  the  country,  of  the 
opening  of  new  paper-manufacturing  centers,  of  the  intro¬ 
duction  of  machinery  and  of  improvements  in  methods. 
This  ripening  growth  covered  the  best  part  of  the  first 
half  of  the  century,  before  the  industry  began  to  show 
that  it  was  soundly  on  the  way  to  being  fully  rounded  out 
and  substantially  established  in  its  modern  conditions. 

Notwithstanding  the  census  of  1810  and  the  personal 
investigations  made  by  Isaiah  Thomas,  about  the  same 
time,  indicated  that  the  number  of  mills  in  the  country 
was  approximately  one  hundred  and  eighty  to  two  hun¬ 
dred,  the  actual  number  existing  in  this  period  continued 
to  be  more  or  less  an  unknown  quantity.  Several  things 
contributed  to  this  paucity  of  accurate  information.  Most 
of  all,  in  the  majority  of  cases  the  mills  were  small  affairs 
and  existed  only  temporarily ;  they  sprang  up  almost  in  a 
night,  as  it  were,  were  burned  in  a  few  months,  or  a  few 


123 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


years  and  were  not  rebuilt.  In  their  way  they  were  as 
hard  to  find  and  as  hard  to  keep  track  of  as  the  proverbial 
elusive  flea.  Some  of  them,  however,  stand  out  conspicu¬ 
ously,  as  they  were  eminent  in  size,  in  magnitude  of  opera¬ 
tions  and  in  financial  solidity  or  were  founders  of  sec¬ 
tional  manufacturing  centers ;  and  as  such  they  command 
special  attention.  Perhaps  two  score  of  them,  all  told,  were 


David  Ames. 

A  Famous  Pioneer  Paper-Manufacturer  of  Massachusetts. 


of  such  consequence  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  century, 
mainly  in  Massachusetts,  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and 
Delaware. 

For  a  period  of  nearly  forty  years  the  Ameses  of  Spring- 
field,  Mass.,  were  great  paper-manufactures.  David 


124 


A  STEADILY  GROWING  INDUSTRY 


Ames,  a  soldier  of  the  revolution,  was  sent  to  Springfield, 
in  1794,  in  the  second  presidential  term  of  Washington,  to 
estabish  the  national  armory  in  that  place,  being  commis¬ 
sioned  a  colonel.  After  eight  years  in  that  position  he 
resigned  and  went  into  the  business  of  paper-manufactur¬ 
ing,  purchasing  a  mill  which  had  been  built  in  Springfield 
about  1800.  This  mill  was  the  regulation  small  affair, 
having  two  vats  and  two  rag  engines,  each  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty  pounds  capacity.  The  machinery  was  mostly 
of  wood,  and  power  was  derived  from  an  undershot  wheel. 
It  was  not  until  1820  that  iron  gearing  was  put  in  and  by 
that  time  its  capacity  had  nearly  doubled. 

Sons  of  the  original  proprietor,  David,  Jr.,  and  John, 
were  admitted  to  partnership  and  the  firm  entered  upon 
a  career  of  prosperity.  John  Ames  was  the  inventor  of 
the  family  and  a  cylinder  machine  and  other  devices  and 
processes  originated  by  him  contributed  much  to  their 
success.  From  the  outset  the  firm,  which  became  known 
as  D.  &  J.  Ames,  prospered  w'onderfully,  making  money 
rapidly  and  growing  until  it  was  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  powerful  in  the  country.  They  purchased  mills  that 
had  been  established  near  Springfield  and  also  built  a 
twelve-engine  mill  in  South  Hadley  Falls.  At  one  time 
they  operated  five  mills,  were  running  sixteen  engines, 
were  using  three  tons  of  rags  daily  and  producing  eighty 
reams  of  the  largest  size  printing  paper  and  one  hundred 
and  eighty  reams  of  foolscap  or  letter. 

One  of  the  best  properties  acquired  by  the  Ameses  was 
on  the  Chicopee  river  in  that  northern  part  of  Springfield 
which  later  became  the  town  of  Chicopee.  There,  in  1806, 
a  mill  was  built  by  William  Bowman,  Benjamin  Cox  and 
Lemuel  Cox,  who  continued  to  manufacture  paper  for  fif¬ 
teen  years  or  upward.  Chauncey  Brewer  and  Joshua 
Frost  bought  the  property  and  maintained  the  mill  in 
operation  for  five  or  six  years  more,  when  they  sold  it  to 
David  Ames.  Machinery  was  introduced  by  the  Ameses, 
who  were  succeeded,  in  1853,  by  John  Valentine.  Thus 
the  mill  was  operated  for  nearly  or  more  than  half  a 
century. 

The  product  of  the  Ames  mills  was  book,  news  and 

125 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


writing  and  the  members  of  the  firm  were  credited  with 
being  particularly  shrewd  and  sometimes  not  over-scrupu¬ 
lous  in  manufacturing  and  business  methods.  It  has  been 
said  that  all  kinds  and  grades  of  paper  made  by  them  were 
produced  from  the  same  stock  and  by  the  same  process. 
Their  book  and  news  sold  for  nine  cents  a  pound,  and  at 
times  it  was  cut  up,  ruled  and  sold  as  writing  for  eighteen 
cents  a  pound.  When  rags  became  high  in  price  they 
bought  cardboard  shavings  in  New  York  at  two  and  one- 
half  cents  a  pound,  worked  them  with  rags  and  sold  the 
paper  made  from  this  stock  at  twenty-five  cents  a  pound. 

About  this  time  some  manufacturers  in  England  devised 
a  method  of  loading  their  pulp  with  sulphate  of  lime  or 
gypsum  to  an  extent  of  twelve  per  cent  in  order  to  give 
weight  to  their  paper.  This  practice  soon  became  known 
in  Europe  and  in  the  United  States,  and  the  Ameses  have 
been  credited  with  adopting  it  in  some  of  their  mills, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  a  later-day  manufacturer 
who,  as  a  boy,  was  one  of  their  apprentices. 

“One  way  they  had  of  adding  weight  was  from  an 
old  gypsum  mine  near  their  Water  Shops  mill  in 
Sprin^eld.  This  they  mined  and  crushed  with  a 
crude  grinder,  and  after  screening  a  little,  wheeled 
it  to  the  side  of  the  beaters  and  shovelled  in  all  they 
thought  the  stuff  would  carry.  One  of  the  effects 
of  this  kind  of  pulp  was  to  make  the  paper  quite 
gritty,  almost  like  very  fine  sand  paper.  The  old 
cylinder  machine  with  one  large  fire  dryer  was  run 
about  twelve  hours  per  day  and  during  this  time  the 
gypsum  would  accumulate  on  the  dryer  so  thick  that 
very  little  heat  could  get  through  it.  A  good  strong 
scraper  was  then  employed  to  clean  it  and  the  machine 
was  ready  to  go  ahead  again.” 

During  the  panic  of  1837  the  Ameses  met  with  disaster, 
and,  after  dragging  along  in  a  crippled  financial  condition 
for  a  few  years,  sold  their  property.  Their  original  mill 
in  Springfield  was  purchased  by  Greenleaf  &  Taylor,  and 
finally  was  destroyed  by  fire.  David  Ames,  Sr.,  died  Aug¬ 
ust  6,  1847,  aged  eighty-seven  years.  His  son,  David 

'“George  W.  Thompson:  in  The  Paper  Trade  Journal,  October 

16,  1897. 


126 


A  STEADILY  GROWING  INDUSTRY 


Ames,  died  March  12,  1883,  aged  ninety-two.  John  Ames 
died  January  25,  1890,  aged  ninety. 

Now  were  the  beginnings  of  that  paper-manufacturing 
which  ultimately  made  the  western  part  of  the  state  of 
Massachusetts  one  of  the  centers  of  the  industry  in  the 
United  States  and  internationally  celebrated.  The  start¬ 
ing  of  a  little  mill  in  Berkshire  county,  in  1801,  was  ap¬ 
parently  no  more  important  than  hundreds  of  similar 
undertakings  that  had  preceded  or  were  to  come  after  it 
in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Ordinarily  it  would  have  been 
only  an  almost  insignificant  local  event  to  be  passed  by 
indifferently  in  any  historical  review  of  the  subject. 

But  the  man  and  the  place  contributed  to  achieve  for 
it  more  than  simple  neighborhood  fame.  It  was  the  pre¬ 
cursor  of  big  things  in  its  following;  it  blazed  the  way 
for  a  century  of  surpassing  paper-making  development; 
it  laid  the  foundation  for  establishments  that  have  had  no 
superiors  and  few  rivals  in  their  respective  lines.  As  a 
pioneer  and  as  a  powerful  influence  in  leading  and  de¬ 
veloping,  under  favorable  conditions,  a  notable  part  of  the 
industry  to  which  it  belonged,  the  little  Dalton  mill  rightly 
commands  something  more  than  mere  casual  notice  and 
takes  a  conspicuous  place  as  an  historical  landmark. 

Twenty-three  years  before,  in  1779,  the  people  of  the 
town  of  Pittsfield  were  impressed  with  the  importance  of 
having  paper  made  in  their  part  of  the  state.  In  town 
meeting  they  voted  instructions  to  their  representatives  to 
the  great  and  general  court  in  Boston,  to  use  their  “best 
endeavors,  that  any  petition  which  may  be  preferred  from 
this  town,  or  from  any  individual  of  it  respecting  the 
erecting  a  Paper-mill  in  this  town,  be  attended  to  and 
espoused  by  you  in  the  General  Court.”  Nothing  seems 
to  have  been  done  about  this  at  the  time,  however,  and  it 
was  after  1800  that  the  desired  paper-mill  for  the  extreme 
western  part  of  the  state  was  a  reality. 

Zenas  Crane,  the  pioneer  paper-manufacturer  of  the 
Berkshires,  came  from  the  eastern  part  of  Massachusetts, 
the  home  of  his  parents  being  in  Canton,  Norfolk  county, 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  first  Massachusetts  paper-mill 
of  1728  in  Milton.  His  elder  brother,  Stephen  Crane,  Jr., 

127 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


learned  the  trade  in  that  mill  and  then  established  himself 
a  few  miles  away  in  Newton  Lower  Falls.  In  the  Newton 
mill  the  younger  boy  acquired  the  rudiments  of  the  busi¬ 
ness.  From  Newton  he  moved  on  to  Worcester,  where 
he  worked  for  some  time  in  the  mill  of  General  Caleb  Bur- 


Founder  of  Paper-Manufacturing  in  Berkshire  County,  Mass. 


bank.  There  he  had  wider  experience  and  gained  a  more 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  details  of  his  chosen  vocation. 

Having  reached  this  stage  of  preparedness,  he  deter¬ 
mined  to  have  a  mill  of  his  own  and  to  this  end,  in  1799, 
when  he  was  twenty-two  years  of  age,  he  journeyed  to  the 

128 


A  STEADILY  GROWING  INDUSTRY 


western  part  of  the  state,  and  there,  in  the  town  of  Dalton, 
selected  a  site  for  the  first  paper-mill  in  Massachusetts 
west  of  the  Connecticut  river.  Not  until  two  years  later 
was  the  mill  built,  as  appears  from  an  advertisement  for 
rags,  printed  by  Crane  and  his  two  partners  in  the  Pitts- 
Md  Sun,  February  8,  1801/*® 

John  Willard  dropped  out  of  the  firm  before  the  enter¬ 
prise  was  fully  started,  Daniel  Gilbert  taking  his  place.  In 
December,  1801,  a  mill  had  been  erected  on  a  lot  of  land 
a  little  more  than  fourteen  acres  in  extent,  with  a  water 
privilege  and  for  this  they  paid  one  hundred  and  ninety-four 
dollars.  The  building  was  a  one-vat  mill,  with  a  drying 
loft  in  the  upper  story,  and  it  had  a  capacity  for  day’s 
work  of  twenty  posts — one  hundred  and  twenty-five  sheets 
of  paper.  Various  sizes  of  book  and  news  papers  were 
made,  but  the  writing  paper  was  in  foolscap  and  folio 
only.  Two  newspapers  of  the  county  used  most  of  the 
news  that  the  mill  produced,  and  the  overplus,  both  of 
writing  and  printing,  went  to  the  nearby  market  in  Al¬ 
bany.  For  several  years  the  annual  production  was  about 
twenty  tons.  Mr.  Crane  was  the  superintendent  and  gen¬ 
eral  manager  and  had  a  weekly  salary  of  nine  dollars. 

In  1807  Mr.  Crane  retired,  selling  his  interest  in  the 
mill  to  his  partners,  but  three  years  later  he  came  back 
into  the  business  and  bought  part  of  another  mill — the 
second  in  Dalton,  built  in  1809.  This  became  famous  as 
the  Old  Red  Mill  and  in  1822  Mr.  Crane  became  sole 
proprietor  of  the  business,  maintaining  his  active  control 
of  it  until  1842,  three  years  before  his  death.  Further 
account  of  the  Old  Red  Mill  and  its  successors  belongs  in 
the  history  of  the  Cranes  of  three  generations  and  their 
notable  activities  in  the  field  of  paper-manufacturing. 

After  1807  Wiswall  &  Carson  owned  the  first  Dalton 
mill.  In  subsequent  years  it  was  managed  by  David  Car- 
son,  his  sons,  Thomas  G.,  William  W.,  and  David  J.,  all 
of  them  expert  paper-makers  and,  still  later,  down  to  con¬ 
temporaneous  times,  principally  by  other  members  of  the 
Carson  family. 


See  page  114,  ante. 


129 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


A  Pioneer  Paper-Manufacturer  in  Western  Massachusetts. 

Reproduced  from  an  old  wood  engraving. 

After  the  start  had  been  made  by  Zenas  Crane  and  his 
associates  paper-making  in  the  Berkshires  went  steadily 
on,  though  slowly  at  first.  News  of  the  natural  advantages 
of  the  section  spread  and  especially  did  the  excellence  of 
waterpower  that  could  be  secured,  the  salubrity  of  the 
mountain  air  and  the  purity  of  the  water  peculiarly  adapted 
to  paper-making,  command  the  attention  of  paper-makers 
who  presently  began  to  journey  thither.  Samuel  Church 
came  from  East  Hartford,  Conn.,  to  the  town  of  Lee  in 
1806  and  built  there  a  two-vat  mill  and  two  years  later 
Luman  Church  built  another  mill  in  Lee,  the  third  in  the 
county.  No  further  additions  were  made  to  the  industry 
in  this  little  town  until  1822  when  Charles  M.  Owen  and 


130 


A  STEADILY  GROWING  INDUSTRY 


Thomas  Hurlbut  arrived  and  began  to  manufacture  in  one 
of  the  Church  mills  in  a  small  way,  employing  four  men 
and  six  women  and  producing  ten  reams  of  letter  paper  a 
day.  Their  energy  and  natural  ability  led  to  the  rapid  ex¬ 
pansion  of  their  business  and  they  were  soon  in  the  fore¬ 
front  ;  but  that  is  a  story  of  a  later  period. 

Between  1810  and  1825  there  were  in  existence,  at 
different  times,  in  Massachusetts,  from  twenty  to  thirty 
mills,  possibly  a  few  more.  Aside  from  those  already  re¬ 
ferred  to  in  Springfield,  Dalton  and  Lee  they  were  prin¬ 
cipally  located  in  Milton,  Newton,  Waltham  and  Worces- 


Daniel  Vose. 

One-Time  Owner  of  the  Mill  in  Milton,  Mass, 

131 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


ter.  Most  of  them  were  small  and  scantily  equipped  and — 
established  only  to  meet  local  needs — perished  when  the 
conditions  altered  that  gave  them  birth.  Several,  how¬ 
ever,  were  more  enduring  and  have  lasted  into  the 
twentieth  century  with  little  if  any  material  change  except 
as  has  resulted  from  the  introduction  of  modern  machin¬ 
ery  and  the  expansion  of  business. 

After  the  passing  of  a  hundred  years  the  first  mill  in 
Milton  still  remained  active,  although  it  had  been  long 
out-distanced  by  some  of  its  more  pretentious  later  rivals, 
in  size  and  importance  of  operations.  Daniel  Vose,  the 
son-in-law  of  Jeremiah  Smith,  had  acquired  the  property 
from  his  father-in-law  about  the  time  of  the  revolution 
and  held  it  nearly  until  his  death.  Vose,  who  was  born 
in  Milton  in  1741  and  died  there  in  1807,  was,  during  the 
greater  part  of  his  mature  life,  the  leading  business  man 
of  his  native  place  and  active  in  civil  and  military  affairs. 
He  was  in  every  way  a  worthy  successor  to  the  first  paper- 
mill  men  of  Massachusetts. 

John  Sullivan  and  Joseph  Dodge  operated  the  mill  for 
a  few  years  but  it  was  later  leased  to  Isaac  Sanderson  of 
Watertown,  who  in  1810  acquired  ownership  of  it.  San¬ 
derson  was  an  experienced  paper-maker  and  a  clever  in¬ 
ventor.  In  1803,  according  to  a  local  historian,  he  manu¬ 
factured  for  the  Boston  custom  house  the  first  folio  post 
and  quarto  letter  paper  ever  made  in  New  England.  In 
1817  he  built  a  new  mill  near  the  old  one  and  put  in  a 
wrought  iron  tub-wheel,  the  first  iron  water  wheel  used  in 
that  section.  He  retained  control  of  the  mill  until  1834.^*^ 

By  succession  to  Jeremiah  Smith  Boies  and  Hugh  Mc¬ 
Lean,  the  business  in  two  of  the  Milton  mills  passed  into 
the  hands  of  Amasa  Fuller,  George  Bird,  Henry  Cox, 
Richardson  Fuller,  Benjamin  F.  Crehore,  Jarvis  Fenno, 
Ebenezer  Steadman,  Joseph  Randall  and  John  Savels, 
through  a  period  of  nearly  thirty  years.  The  McLean 
property  was  purchased  by  Edmund  Tileston  and  Mark 
Hollingsworth,  in  1809,  and  that  of  Boies  by  the  same 
partners,  in  1828.  Tileston  and  Hollingsworth  thus  came 

‘“Albert  K.  Teelc:  The  History  of  Milton,  Mass.  (1887),  p.  371. 

132 


A  STEADILY  ‘GROWING  INDUSTRY 


into  possession  of  both  these  historic  mills  which  they  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  enlarge  and  remodel,  thus  laying  the  foundation 
of  the  business  that  was  to  endure  as  a  family  possession 
unbroken  for  another  hundred  years.^*® 

In  the  eastern  part  of  Massachusetts,  Middlesex  county 
had  developed  manufacturing  on  a  large  scale  along  widely 
divergent  lines.  Paper-manufacturing  was  established  in 
several  towns  during  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth 
century  and  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  next  century.  There 
were  mills  in  Waltham,  Ashland,  Newton,  Watertown, 
Shirley,  Framingham  and  Pepperell.  In  Newton  only  did 
the  industry  grow  to  notable  proportions,  but  the  opera¬ 
tions  in  other  places  were  not  devoid  of  interest. 

A  little  mill  in  Waltham  was  the  third  in  that  town, 
built  by  Nathan  and  Amos  Warren  in  1802.  Located  on 
Stony  brook,  a  stream  that  branches  off  the  Charles  river, 
it  became  the  property  of  John  Gibbs  about  1820.  In 
1835  John  and  Stephen  Roberts  purchased  the  mill, 
Stephen  Roberts  having  had  practical  experience  in  sev¬ 
eral  Massachusetts  mills.  In  a  few  years  John  Roberts 
became  the  sole  proprietor  and  in  his  hands  and  those  of 
his  descendants  the  mill  has  remained  until  the  present 
time.  For  more  than  half  a  century  it  was  operated  by 
John  Roberts  and  his  son  William  Roberts  and  now — ^in 
1916 — is  owned  and  operated  by  The  John  Roberts  &  Son 
Company,  Incorporated.  The  mill,  which  years  ago  super¬ 
seded  the  original  wooden  structure  that  was  burned  in 
1844,  is  a  picturesque  stone  building,  old-fashioned  in 
appearance  but  modernly  equipped,  in  a  country  suburb 
of  the  city  that  has  been  known  there  for  several  genera¬ 
tions  as  Roberts'  Station. 

The  record  of  this  mill,  as  it  was  conducted  in  the 
hands  of  its  long-time  proprietor,  is  another  illustration  of 
the  success  that  in  early  days  came  to  many  a  small  estab¬ 
lishment  skillfully  operated  on  a  specialty.  John  Robejrts 
was  one  of  the  first  American  manufacturers  to  introduce 
the  Fourdrinier  machine  and  he  added  improvements  in 
machinery  and  new  methods  of  his  own  devising.  Among 

‘“Albert  K.  Teele;  The  History  of  Milton,  Mass.  (1887),  pp. 


133 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


his  inventions  was  a  machine  for  tarring  sheathing-paper 
used  for  building  purposes  and  the  Roberts  mill  soon  be¬ 
came  widely  known  for  its  high  grade  of  standard  tarred 
paper.  At  one  time  the  mill  was  almost  exclusively  occu¬ 
pied  with  this  product.  Beginning  with  coarse  wrapping 
paper  Roberts  was  shortly  one  of  the  first  manufacturers 


John  Roberts. 

Proprietor  of  one  of  the  first  mills  in  Waltham,  Mass. 


in  the  country  to  make  fine  grade  hardware  papers.  In 
1916  the  mill  was  making  asbestos  paper,  a  logical  ad¬ 
vancement  from  the  original  tarred  roofing  paper.^^® 

D.  H.  Hurd:  History  of  Middlesex  County,  Mass.  (1890), 
III.,  p.  757. 


134 


A  STEADILY  GROWING  INDUSTRY 


Jonas  Parker  and  Thomas  Parker,  natives  of  Shirley, 
learned  paper-making  in  one  of  the  Waltham  mills,  and 
returning  home  built  the  first  mill  in  that  town,  on  the 
Catacoonamaug  river.  It  was  an  humble  effort  with  one 
vat  and  one  engine.  Later  came  a  larger  establishment 
built  by  Edgarton  &  Co.,  the  senior  partner  of  this  firm 
having  had  an  interest  in  the  first  mill.  Special  distinction 
attached  to  this  mill  through  the  skill  of  its  superintendent, 
Henry  P.  Howe,  who  conceived  the  idea  of  fire-drying  as 
a  substitute  for  the  old-fashioned,  slow  air-drying  process. 
His  fire-dryer  machine  was  patented  and  put  into  opera¬ 
tion  with  eminently  satisfactory  results.  Howe  gave  up 
paper-making  and  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  paper¬ 
making  machinery.  The  fire-dryer,  which  had  promise 
of  great  results,  was  finally  superseded  by  the  steam¬ 
drying  process.  The  Edgarton  mill,  under  different  opera¬ 
tors,  continued  until  1837  when  it  was  destroyed  by  fire. 
Another  mill  erected  on  the  site  was  operated  for  some 
ten  years,  to  about  the  middle  of  the  century,  when  it  was 
burned  and  the  manufacture  of  woollen  goods  was  sub¬ 
stituted  for  that  of  paper.^*^ 

When  John  Ware,  from  Sherborn,  established  himself 
at  the  lower  falls  in  Newton,  in  1789,  he  purchased  four¬ 
teen  acres  of  land  including  a  dam,  water  courses,  mills, 
a  forge,  a  dwelling-house  and  a  barn.  Only  a  small  part 
of  his  investment  was  the  paper-mill  which  he  built  the 
following  year,  but  this  was  the  beginning  of  what 
made  Newton  Lower  Falls  a  great  paper-manufacturing 
place.  During  the  next  forty  years  many  changes  were 
made  in  the  ownership  of  this  and  other  properties  de¬ 
pendent  upon  the  water-power  of  the  Charles  river  at  this 
point.  Between  the  years  of  1812  and  1832  upwards  of 
thirty  sales  and  transfers  were  made.  An  adjustment  of 
the  differences  existing  between  the  various  owners, 
regarding  water-rights,  was  made  in  1816  and  it  ap¬ 
peared  that  then  there  were  five  paper-mills,  the  owners  of 
which  were  Simon  Eliot,  Solomon  Curtis,  William  Hurd, 
Moses  Grant,  John  Ware,  and  Charles  Bemis,  Eliot  & 

“’^Seth  Chandler:  in  History  of  Middlesex  County,  Massochu- 
setts  (1880),  II.,  p.  299. 


135 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


Curtis  and  Hurd  &  Bemis  being  two  partnership  concerns. 
It  was  nearly  twenty  years  subsequent  to  this  date  when 
paper-manufacturing  in  this  village  fully  entered  upon  the 
career  that  made  its  history  such  a  large  part  of  the 


Seth  Bemis. 

A  Later  Proprietor  of  an  Early  Massachusetts  Mill. 

industry  in  contemporaneous  times  in  the  hands  particu¬ 
larly  of  the  Crehores,  Curtises  and  Rices. 

Seth  Bemis,  who  was  born  in  1775  and  died  in  1851,  was 
the  youngest  son  cf  David  Bemis.  He  succeeded  his  father 

D  H.  Hurd:  History  of  Middlesex  County,  Massachusetts 
(1890),  III.,  p.  102. 


136 


A  STEADILY  GROWING  INDUSTRY 


and  his  brothers  in  the  manufacturing  enterprises  of  the 
family  on  the  banks  of  the  Charles  river  in  Watertown  and 
Newton,  owning  the  paper-mill  at  Bemis  Station  after 
1821.  But  his  greater  business  success  was  in  the  manu¬ 
facturing  of  cotton  and  woollen  goods  and  the  preparation 
of  dye-stuffs. 

Despite  many  discouragements  the  mill  in  Andover 
owned  by  Samuel  Phillips  and  Thomas  Houghton  man¬ 
aged  to  exist  in  fairly  prosperous  condition  until  into  this 
century.  It  stood  for  twenty  years,  being  burned  in  1811. 
Rebuilt  in  the  following  year,  it  was  producing,  in  1829, 
paper  to  the  value  of  $10,000  annually  and  was  giving 
employment  to  sixteen  to  twenty  persons.  Sons  of 
Phillips  and  Houghton  succeeded  their  fathers  in  the 
business,  but  after  1820  the  mill  passed  into  possession  of 
others  and  finally  became  the  property  of  Amos  Blanchard, 
Daniel  Poor  and  Abel  Blanchard.  Ultimately  it  was 
transformed  into  a  woollen  mill  and  paper-manufacturing 
in  this  town  ended. 

Changes  occurred  in  the  ownership  and  operation  of 
the  first  mills  that  had  been  started  in  central  Massachu¬ 
setts.  Abijah  Burbank,  who  built  the  mill  in  Sutton  be¬ 
fore  the  revolution,  was  in  time  succeeded  by  his  son.  Gen¬ 
eral  Caleb  Burbank,  who  associated  with  him  his  brother, 
Elijah  Burbank.  Under  these  brothers  the  property  was 
greatly  improved  and  its  capacity  enlarged.  With  the  ad¬ 
vent  of  machinery,  cylinders  were  put  in  and  rag  cutters, 
tub-wheels  and  new  engines  so  that  between  1828  and 

1835  it  was  quite  an  up-to-date  establishment.  General 
Burbank  was  a  notable  figure  in  his  generation,  a  pub¬ 
lisher,  a  man  of  diversified  business  interests,  influential 
and  wealthy.  But  trouble  came  in  the  financial  panic  of 

1836  and  with  many  others  the  Burbanks  went  under. 
The  mill  passed  into  other  hands  but  was  operated  until 
nearly  the  opening  of  the  civil  war. 

The  Thomas  mill,  which  had  become  another  Burbank 
property,  was,  after  about  1811,  owned  solely  by  Elijah 

Abiel  Abbott:  History  of  Andover,  Massachusetts  (1829), 
p.  195.  S.  F.  Bailey:  Historical  Sketches  of  Andover,  Massachu¬ 
setts  (1880),  p.  585. 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


Burbank  who  made  wrapping  paper  in  it.  He  ran  the  mill 
until  1834  when  the  Quinsigamond  Paper  Company  pur¬ 
chased  it  and,  putting  in  new  machinery,  turned  it  to  its 
initial  purpose  of  producing  printing  paper,  making  about 
three  hundred  reams  per  week. 

The  mills  of  Providence,  R.  L,  endured  well  into  this 
century.  Those  owned  by  Christopher  Olney  became  the 


Major-General  Caleb  Burbank. 

An  Early  Paper-Mill  Owner  in  Central  Massachusetts. 

138 


A  STEADILY  GROWING  INDUSTRY 


property  of  Wheaton  &  Eddy  after  the  death  of  the  origi¬ 
nal  proprietor  and  finally  they  were  owned  by  Richard 
Waterman.  In  a  short  time,  however,  they  were  dis¬ 
continued. 

Another  historic  eighteenth  century  mill  that  existed 
in  one  form  or  another  for  nearly  a  hundred  years  was 
that  of  Colonel  Matthew  Lyon  in  Fairhaven,  Vt.  After 
1800  it  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  James  Lyon,  son  of 
Colonel  Lyon,  and  was  owned  by  Josiah  Norton.  Burned 
in  1806,  it  was  rebuilt  and  lasted  until  1831,  when  it  was 
again  burned  and  again  rebuilt.  It  endured  until  well 
toward  the  end  of  the  century,  but  at  the  last  in  a  very 
small  way.^®® 

The  third  mill  in  Maine  followed  those  that  had  pre¬ 
ceded  it  in  Falmouth  by  more  than  eighty  years.  It  was 
in  1811  or  1812  that  Robert  H.  Gardiner  and  John  Savels 
started  this  in  the  town  of  Gardiner,  on  the  Cobbassee 
river.  Gardiner  owned  the  mill  site  and  Savels,  who  was 
the  practical  man,  having  learned  his  trade  in  one  of  the 
mills  of  Milton,  Mass.,  managed  the  business.  The  out¬ 
put  was  writing  paper.  In  1820  Gardiner  sold  his  interest 
in  the  property  to  his  partner.  Savels  died  in  1824  and 
under  various  ownerships  and  managements  the  mill  con¬ 
tinued  to  be  operated  until  after  the  middle  of  the  century. 
Other  Maine  mills  started  in  this  period  were :  that  of 
George  Cox  &  Co. — Cox  being  from  the  Milton  mill — 
built,  in  1823,  on  Seven  Mile  brook  in  Vassalborough,  and 
burned  in  1843 ;  that  of  Harris  &  Cox  and  Rand  &  Stock- 
bridge  in  North  Yarmouth  from  1816  to  1836,  and  that  of 
Joseph  F.  Day  in  Union  from  1816  to  1843. 

General  David  Humphreys,  of  Seymour,  Conn.,  was  one 
of  the  most  energetic  Americans  of  post-revolutionary 
times  in  encouraging  in  a  practical  manner  the  manufactur¬ 
ing  industries  of  the  country.  He  was  a  Yale  graduate,  a 
general  in  the  revolution,  the  first  United  States  minister 
to  Portugal,  in  1791,  and  minister  plenipotentiary  to  Spain 
from  1798;  he  was  also  a  poet  as  well  as  a  soldier  and 

“*  H.  P.  Smith  and  W.  S.  Rann :  History  of  Rutland  County, 
Vermont  (1886),  p.  604. 


139 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


diplomat.  When  he  returned  home  from  Spain  in  1802 
he  brought  a  herd  of  choice  merino  sheep  and  engaged 
actively  in  raising  wool  and  in  woollen  manufacturing  in 
his  native  state.  His  woollen  mills  were  the  beginning  of 
the  village  of  Humphreysville  to  which  he  gave  his  name. 
To  his  other  enterprises  he  added  a  paper-mill  in  1805  and, 


General  David  Humphrey, 
Soldier,  Diplomaf,  Poet  and  Manufacturer. 


Starting  it  in  operation  in  a  very  modest  way,  produced 
from  it  four  or  five  reams  per  day  for  several  years.  Sub¬ 
sequently  the  mill  passed  through  the  hands  of  several 
owners,  and  news,  tissue  and  other  papers  were  made  in  it. 
In  1850  it  was  torn  down  and  a  successor  to  it,  erected  on 
another  site  a  short  distance  away,  was  burned  in  1885  and 
not  rebuilt. 


140 


A  STEADILY  GROWING  INDUSTRY 


In  the  southern  part  of  Connecticut,  where  Christopher 
Leffingwell  built  the  first  mill  in  the  colony  in  1766,  not 
much  more  interest  was  manifested  in  this  industry  until 
well  into  the  next  century.  Between  1790  and  1800  An¬ 
drew  Huntington  put  up  a  mill  on  the  Yantic  river  in 
Norwich,  near  or  on  the  site  of  the  old  Leffingwell  mill, 
and  some  years  later  Amos  H.  Hubbard  owned  and  op¬ 
erated  a  mill  in  the  same  town,  achieving  the  distinction  of 
installing  there,  in  1830,  the  first  Fourdrinier  machine  in 
that  section  of  the  state.  First  alone,  then  for  twenty  years 


The  Humphreysville  Paper-Mill. 

A  Wood  Engraving  on  Wrappers  for  the  Paper  Made  in  the  Mill. 
Reproduced  by  permission  from  Campbell,  Sharpe  &  Bassett’s  Seymour,  Past 

and  Present. 

in  association  with  his  brother  Russell  Hubbard,  he  con¬ 
tinued  in  the  business  until  1857,  part  of  the  time  operat¬ 
ing  two  mills. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  by  1820  the  annual  average 
production  of  the  paper-mills  of  the  United  States  was 
about  $3,000,000,  the  cost  of  materials  and  labor  in  the 
manufacturing  about  $2,000,000,  the  number  of  persons 
employed  five  thousand,  of  whom  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  were  males  over  sixteen  years  of  age,  the  others 

141 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


women  and  children.^®^  Undoubtedly  these  figures  were 
largely  guesswork,  for  then  there  was  no  possible  way  to 
obtain  accurate  information  in  regard  to  the  industry. 
The  failure  of  the  manufacturing  statistical  part  of  the 
census  of  1810  has  been  pointed  out  and  other  investiga¬ 
tions  afforded  no  surer  basis  for  conclusions. 

A  second  attempt  was  made  in  the  taking  of  the  fourth 
census,  that  of  1820,  to  gather  more  complete  industrial  sta¬ 
tistics  than  before,  but  the  effort  was  again  dolefully  un¬ 
successful.  The  schedules  were  calculated  to  enumerate  the 
number  of  establishments  in  the  several  counties  of  the 
states;  the  nature  and  names  of  the  articles  manufactured; 
the  market  value  of  the  annual  product;  the  kind,  quan¬ 
tity  and  cost  of  raw  materials  annually  used ;  the  number 
of  persons  employed;  the  total  quantity  and  kind  of  ma¬ 
chinery  installed  and  the  quantity  in  operation ;  the  amount 
of .  capital  invested ;  the  amount  of  annual  wages ;  the 
amount  of  contingent  expenses,  and  general  information 
regarding  the  establishments,  conditions  of  business,  and 
so  on.  In  the  final  summing  up,  however,  many  mills  were 
not  reported,  others  declined  to  supply  complete  informa¬ 
tion,  others  refused  to  furnish  any  information  whatsoever, 
the  enumerators  often  failed  to  fill  the  blanks  and  the 
actual  number  of  mills  is  nowhere  given.  A  reading  of  the 
tabulation  from  the  facts  and  figures  collected  by  the 
enumerators,  can  at  the  best  give  only  an  approximate 
idea  of  the  condition  of  any  industry  that  may  be  exam¬ 
ined,  or,  as  for  that  matter,  of  the  manufacturing  of  the 
country  as  a  whole. 

In  respect  to  paper-manufacturing  quite  as  markedly  as 
in  the  case  of  other  industries  the  report  was  inaccurate 
and  inconclusive  but  nevertheless  it  is  not  wholly  devoid 
of  interest  and  value,  when  allowance  has  been  made  for 
its  many  shortcomings.  It  is  not  necessary  to  analyze  the 
report  in  detail,  but  an  examination  of  the  tabulated  re¬ 
turns  for  two  of  the  states  will  sufficiently  illustrate  how 
inefficient  and  unreliable  were  the  returns  everywhere. 

’“Joel  Munsell:  Chronology  of  Paper  and  Paper-Making 
(1876),  p.  73.  ^ 


142 


A  STEADILY  GROWING  INDUSTRY 


In  Massachusetts,  for  Middlesex  county,  the  amount  of 
the  annual  product  is  given  at  $55,392,  the  machinery  used, 
nine  engines,  eight  vats,  moulds,  etc.,  and  people  em¬ 
ployed,  one  hundred  and  seven,  but  the  number  of  mills  is 
not  stated,  although  it  is  known  that  probably  a  dozen  or 
more  were  then  in  operation  there.  In  Worcester  county 
the  annual  product  is  given  as  $23,160,  with  four  vats, 
three  presses  and  three  engines,  and  the  people  employed, 
thirty-seven,  but  the  number  of  mills  is  not  designated. 
Norfolk  county  is  credited  with  an  annual  product  of 
$25,000  “in  part,”  and  fifty-eight  persons  employed  in  two 
mills  with  two  vats,  two  water  wheels  and  five  engines ; 
a  note  refers  to  operations  in  three  establishments  and 
no  statements  from  some  others.  In  Hampden  county  it 
is  said  that  six  vats  and  other  machines  are  in  operation, 
employing  sixty-nine  people,  but  the  number  of  mills  is  not 
given.  For  Hampshire  county  it  is  stated  that  thirty-five 
persons  are  employed  in  mills  equipped  with  “vats  and  en¬ 
gines”  and  annually  producing  to  the  value  of  “$5,000  in 
one  of  these  establishments ;  the  others  not  stated” ;  and 
how  many  others  does  not  appear.  In  Berkshire  county 
three  mills  are  reported  in  part,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
paper-making  was  already  assuming  considerable  propor¬ 
tions  in  that  county. 

The  statement  for  Rhode  Island  is  quite  as  non-illum¬ 
inating.  In  the  tabulation  one  paper  mill  is  entered  as  pro¬ 
ducing  annually  twenty  reams  of  writing  and  twelve  of 
wrapping  paper  p.er  week,  and  without  other  information. 
A  foot  note  adds : 

“There  are,  besides  what  has  been  stated 
two  paper-staining  manufactories,  the  business  of  one 
of  which  is  dull,  from  the  markets  being  overstocked 
with  French  papers,  and  the  other,  from  the  same 
cause,  is  not  in  operation.  .  .  .  There  are  like¬ 
wise  ...  a  paper  and  an  oil  mill.  ...  To 
which  may  be  added  a  manufactory  of  paper 
three  manufactories  of  hats,  and  two  of  paper :  all  of 
which  are  stated  as  not  in  operation,  except  the  paper 
manufactories,  with  respect  to  which,  however,  no 
particular  information  could  be  obtained.” 

As  the  final  classification  and  digest  was  made  and 

143 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


printed  under  the  direction  of  congress'®’*  the  mills  in  the 
several  states  were  set  down  as  follows:  Maine,  one;  New 
Hampshire,  six;  Massachusetts,  eleven;  Rhode  Island, 
six;  Connecticut,  seven;  Vermont,  nine;  New  York, 


Proprietor  of  the  First  Mill  in  Andover,  Mass. 

Reproduced  from  a  steel  engraving  in  the  New  England  Historical  and 
Genealogical  Register. 


twenty-one;  New  Jersey,  four;  Pennsylvania,  twenty-four; 
Maryland,  five ;  District  of  Columbia,  one ;  North  Caro¬ 
lina,  one;  East  Tennessee,  two;  Kentucky,  one;  Ohio, 


“’Gales  and  Seaton:  Digest  of  Accounts  of^  Manufacturing 
Establishments  in  the  United  States  and  Their  Manufactures 
(1823). 


144 


A  STEADILY  GROWING  INDUSTRY 


four ;  total,  one  hundred  and  three.  This  accounts  for  only 
about  one-half  the  mills  that  were  in  existence  in  1810 
and  certainly  for  not  more  than  the  same  proportion  of 
those  that  were  undoubtedly  being  operated  in  1820.  The 
number  of  employees  reported  were  two  thousand  and 
seventy;  in  Maine,  twenty-four;  New  Hampshire,  forty- 
eight;  Massachusetts,  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight;  Con¬ 
necticut,  two  hundred  and  five;  Vermont,  one  hundred  and 
forty-one;  New  York,  three  hundred  and  seventy-three; 
New  Jersey,  one  hundred  and  fourteen;  Pennsylvania,  six 
hundred  and  fifty-nine ;  Maryland,  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
two;  District  of  Columbia,  twenty;  North  Carolina,  eight; 
East  Tennessee,  sixteen;  Kentucky,  sixty-four;  Ohio,  one 
hundred  and  twenty-eight.  This  was  manifestly  not  more 
than  one-half  the  actual  number;  and  the  total  amount  of 
annual  product,  given  as  $957,902,  and  the  amount  of  capi¬ 
tal  reported  as  invested,  $1,672,839,  were  both  manifestly 
absurd  underestimates.  The  Munsell  calculation  was 
probably  much  nearer  the  truth  than  the  faulty  census. 
No  mills  were  reported  in  Virginia,  Georgia,  South  Caro¬ 
lina,  West  Tennessee,  Arkansas,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Minne¬ 
sota  and  Michigan. 

Until  after  the  first  quarter  of  this  century  had  nearly 
passed  machinery  as  the  word  is  understood  in  modern 
times  was  unknown.  Water-wheels  and  beating  engines 
were  part  of  the  equipment  of  every  mill,  but  that  was  the 
end  of  labor-saving  devices ;  all  else  was  the  primitive 
hand-work  such  as  had  prevailed  alone  through  genera¬ 
tions  of  paper-making.  Some  mills  still  remained  in  the 
one-vat  class,  but  most  of  them  had  at  least  two  vats,  while 
not  a  few  could  boast  of  three  or  even  four  vats. 

An  average  two,  three  or  four-vat  mill  represented  an 
investment  of  from  $3,000  to  $8,000,  the  lesser  figure  more 
generally  than  the  larger.  It  was  the  rare  exception  when 
a  mill  could  be  considered  to  be  worth  $10,000.  Reports 
of  the  burning  of  mills  from  time  to  time  mostly  put  the 
values  at  $3,000  to  $6,000,  but  a  mill  on  the  Bronx  river, 
in  the  suburbs  of  New  York  city,  owned  by  David  Lydig, 
was  insured  for  $32,000  when  it  was  destroyed  by  fire  in 
1822.  This  was  considered  a  costly  establishment,  being 

145 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


well-equipped  and  carrying  a  large  quantity  of  paper 
stock.  The  mill  of  the  Gilpin  brothers  on  the  Brandy¬ 
wine  river  and  several  of  those  of  the  Ames  family  in  and 
about  Springfield,  Mass.,  were  also  valued  at  high  fig¬ 
ures,  the  Gilpin  at  from  $350,000  to  $500,000  and  the  en¬ 
tire  Ames  plant  at  fully  as  great  an  amount  if  not  more. 

To  man  a  one-vat  wrapping  paper-mill  required  four 
men  and  a  boy;  twenty  posts  was  a  day’s  work,  requiring 
about  nine  hours’  labor  for  two  men  and  a  boy  at  the  vat ; 
one  hundred  and  twenty-six  felts  or  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  sheets  constituted  a  post,  so  that  two  thousand 
five  hundred  sheets  were  turned  out  daily.  A  good  two- 
vat  mill  could  be  depended  upon  to  produce  two  thousand 
to  three  thousand  reams  of  all  kinds  of  paper  annually, 
with  twelve  or  more  workers — men,  women,  boys  and 
girls.  In  the  collecting  of  rags  and  other  raw  material 
and  in  the  making  of  the  paper,  two  thousand  five  hundred 
persons  found  employment.  Rags,  junk,  old  sails,  rope 
and  other  raw  material  were  used  to  the  amount  of  three 
thousand  five  hundred  tons  or  more  annually.  A  four-vat 
mill  could  turn  out  every  day  about  four  hundred  pounds 
of  hand-made  paper  which  commanded  a  price  of  from 
forty  to  fifty  cents  per  pound. 

Most  of  the  small  mills  were  at  first  run  by  the  owners 
with  help  employed  from  the  neighborhood.  Gradually, 
as  the  industry  expanded  and  the  demands  upon  the  mills 
for  paper  increased,  a  class  of  professional  paper-makers 
sprang  up  and  the  mill  proprietors  came  more  and  more 
into  dependence  upon  them.  They  were  a  wandering  lot 
of  vagrants  very  much  like  the  old-time  tramp  printers, 
and  in  fact  many  of  them  were  veritable  tramps,  travelling 
about  the  country  from  mill  to  mill  as  they  might  wish  to 
have  employment. 

It  was  a  great  accomplishment  to  be  a  good  vat-man, 
one  who  could  hold  the  mold  with  its  fibre  and  water  level 
and  thus  make  a  perfect  sheet  of  paper,  of  uniform  thick¬ 
ness.  The  men  began  work  in  the  mills  early  in  the  morn¬ 
ing,  stopping  for  breakfast  and  particularly  taking  a  rest 
at  grog-time,  about  eleven  o’clock  in  the  forenoon.  A 
day’s  work  of  twenty  posts  was  generally  finished 

146 


A  STEADILY  GROWING  INDUSTRY 


early  in  the  afternoon  and  then  resort  was  had  to  the 
village  tavern  for  the  rest  of  the  day.  These  professional 
paper-makers  could  be  distinguished  from  other  work¬ 
men  by  their  big  red  hands,  the  result  of  dipping  their 
hands  continually  into  the  warm  water  and  pulp,  and  by 
their  stooping,  round  shoulders  caused  by  constantly  bend¬ 
ing  over  the  vat. 


The  Eckstein  Mill,  Manayunk,  Philadelphia. 

Reproduced  from  an  old  wood  engraving. 


147 


CHAPTER  EIGHT 

IN  MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHERN  STATES 

Beginning  in  Central  and  Northern  New  York — 
Mills  That  Endured  Substantially  Unchanged 
FOR  A  Hundred  Years — The  Famous  Mill  of  the 
Gilpin  Brothers  in  Delaware — New  Mills  in 
Western  Pennsylvania — Planting  the  Industry 
IN  Ohio,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee 

PAPER-MANUFACTURING  went  on  apace  in  New 
York,  although  in  that  State  there  were  very  few  mills 
that  had  attained  large  size  or  that  were  making  very  much 
impression.  The  industry  was  still  in  the  hands  of  single 
individuals  or  small  firms,  not  yet  having  become  big 
enough  to  warrant  its  advancement  into  the  higher  field  of 
incorporated  business,  although  the  trend  toward  incorpo¬ 
rating  had  generally  set  in.  According  to  a  report  made 
to  the  United  States  government  in  1823  by  the  secretary 
of  state  of  the  commonwealth,  two  hundred  and  six 
incorporated  companies  were  there  then  engaged  in  manu¬ 
facturing  in  New  York,  of  which  number  two  only  were 
producing  paper.  At  that  time  there  were  undoubtedly 
close  on  to  forty  mills  in  the  state. 

The  pioneer  mill  in  western  New  York  was  built  in 
Dansville,  Livingston  county,  by  Nathaniel  Rochester. 
Dansville  was  then  just  emerging  from  the  frontier  stage 
of  settlement,  and  Rochester,  a  North  Carolina  man,  a 
colonel  in  the  revolution  and  a  friend  of  Washington, 
came  there  in  1810,  purchased  land  and  mill  property  and 
erected  the  paper-mill.  The  establishment  was  evidently 
of  small  account,  for  Colonel  Rochester  sold  his  entire 

148 


IN  MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHERN  STATES 


interests  in  1814,  comprising  seven  hundred  acres  of  land, 
a  grist-mill,  a  saw-mill  and  the  paper-mill  for  $24,000.  It 
was,  however,  the  beginning. 

Other  mills  were  early  erected  in  Dansville,  and  among 


Nathaniel  Rochester. 

The  First  Paper-Mill  Owner  in  Western  New  York. 

Reproduced  from  an  old  engraving  in  O’Reilly’s  Sketches  of  Rochester. 

them  was  one  that  became  historically  celebrated  by  its 
continuance  for  nearly  one  hundred  years  practically  un¬ 
changed  in  its  pristine,  primitive  character.  This  was  the 

A.  O.  Bunnell :  Dansville,  1709-1902,  pp.  34  and  78. 

149 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  UNITED  STATES 


Eagle,  built  in  1824  by  Andrew  Porter,  at  the  entrance  to 
Poag’s  Hole  valley.  In  the  fading  years  of  its  century  of 
existence  the  Eagle  was  a  weather-beaten  wreck  of  an 
old  wooden  building  more  picturesque  than  business-like. 
From  the  same  brook  that  flowed  by  it  in  1824  came  the 


water  that  operated  it  after  1900,  and,  in  the  modern  days 
of  gas  and  electricity,  such  meagre  light  as  it  needed  was 
furnished  by  old-fashioned  oil  lamps.  No  better  picture 
of  this  antiquated  mill  could  be  drawn  than  the  descrip¬ 
tion  made  by  one  who  visited  it  when  it  had  nearly  reached 
its  nine  score  years  of  existence. 

ISO 


The  Eagle  Mill,  Dansville — Interior. 

Reproduced  by  permission  from  an  engraving  in  The  Inland  Printer, 


IN  MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHERN  STATES 


“The  machine  on  which  the  paper  is  made  is  said 
to  have  been  built  by  a  local  wheelwright,  a  slender 
wooden  affair  of  barely  twenty  feet  in  length  and 
thirty-six  inches  in  width.  The  entire  plant  is 
operated  by  water-power,  its  huge,  old  wooden  water¬ 
wheel  creaking  noisily  under  its  ceaseless  burden.  The 


dam,  from  which  the  water  is  drawn,  is  one  of  those 
old-fashioned  affairs  which,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of 
the  supply,  exposes  shamelessly  its  structural  features 
to  the  public  gaze;  A  wooden  flume,  perched  above 
the  ground  upon  scantling  supports,  carries  the  water 
to  the  mill,  a  hundred  yards  distant,  leaking  copiously 
all  the  way.  There  are  two  beaters,  each  of  a  capacity 

151 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  located  in  the 
loft,  and  the  pulp  runs  into  a  vat  below,  frorn  which  it 
is  pumped  up  to  the  machine. 

“The  machine  is  in  every  way  singularly  deficient 
in  labor-saving  devices.  The  pulp  is  carried  on  a 
blanket  instead  of  a  Fourdrinier  wire,  which  permits 
the  water  to  percolate  through.  There  are  but  four 
small  heated  cylinders,  instead  of  the  huge  batteries  of 
dryers  seen  on  even  the  smallest  of  modern  machines. 
There  are  neither  suction  boxes,  calendering  rolls  nor 
cutting  disks,  and  the  water,  as  it  is  pressed  from  the 
pulp,  is  permitted  to  drip  about  the  machine  with  heed¬ 
less  prodigality. 

“The  reel  on  which  the  paper  is  taken  off  is  a  rough, 
wooden  spindle  affair,  regulated  in  its  action  by  iron 
weights  on  the  end  of  a  rope.  A  stop-gauge  guillotine 
cutter  takes  it  from  the  roll,  and  the  operator,  at  his 
leisure,  cuts  it  to  size,  sheet  by  sheet.  If  it  is  required 
to  cut  the  paper  to  a  smaller  size,  it  is  folded  and  torn 
apart  over  a  scythe-blade  attached  to  the  wall.  The 
mill  is  said  to  have  a  maximum  capacity  of  two  thous¬ 
and  pounds  for  twenty-four  hours,  but,  as  it  is 
operated  throughout  by  one  man,  the  output  is  prob¬ 
ably  considerably  less  than  half  a  ton  a  day.”^®® 

The  mill  was  operated  by  several  paper-makers  during 
the  first  thirty  years  of  its  existence  and  then,  in  1856, 
became  the  property  of  F.  D.  Knowlton,  who  managed  it, 
alone  and  with  his  son,  until  the  time  of  his  death,  before 
1900.  The  son,  also  F.  D.  Knowlton,  followed  his  father 
as  sole  proprietor  of  the  mill  which  still  remained  a  one- 
man  establishment,  the  second  Knowlton,  as  its  Pooh-Bah 
manager,  being  his  own  superintendent,  engineer,  machine 
tender,  cutter,  shipper  and  business  manager.  His  product, 
which  was  mostly  manilla  wrapping,  went  principally  to 
local  storekeepers  in  Dansville  and  neighboring  villages. 
This  long-enduring  mill  was  burned  July  18,  1913,  and 
was  not  rebuilt. 

Gurdon  Caswell,  a  man  from  Connecticut,  in  which 
state  he  was  horn  in  1783,  emigrated  to  Oneida  county, 
N.  Y.,  in  1804,  and  settled  in  Westmoreland.  He  was  a 
tailor  by  trade,  but,  marrying  a  daughter  of  Nathaniel 


J.  Hathaway:  Primitive  Paper-making  in  New  York  State. 
In  The  Inland  Printer  (1909),  XIII.,  p.  712. 

I.S2 


IN  MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHERN  STATES 


Loomis,  who  owned  a  paper-mill  situated  on  Oriskany 
creek,  a  few  miles  from  Utica,  he  also  married  into  the 
paper-making  industry.  Four  years  later  he  was  attracted 
to  the  Black  river  country,  in  the  general  movement  of 
population  which  was  then  setting  in  in  that  direction,  and, 
going  to  Watertown,  built  there  a  paper-mill,  the  first  in 
that  region.  George  W.  Knowlton,  of  the  family  of  paper- 
manufacturers  of  that  name,  wrote  a  considerable  account 
of  this  mill.  He  said : 

“The  building  was  a  two-story  frame  structure 
thirty-five  by  fifty  feet,  but  a  considerable  part  of  the 
second  floor  was  used  for  a  wool-carding  machine. 
The  machinery  consisted  of  a  small  rag  engine  or 
Hollander,  carrying  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  of  rags ;  two  or  three  potash  kettles  set  in  a 
brick  arch,  for  boiling  the  rags  and  preparing  the 
sizing ;  one  vat  for  making  the  paper,  sheet  by  sheet ; 
and  a  rude  standing  press  to  squeeze  the  water  out  of 
the  pack,  as  the  pile  of  alternate  felts  and  wet  sheets 
was  called.  After  pressing,  the  sheets  were  taken 
from  the  pack  and  hung  on  poles  to  dry,  and,  if  in¬ 
tended  for  writing  purposes,  were  afterwards  dipped 
in  sizing,  a  few  sheets  at  a  time,  and  dried  again. 
There  was  no  steam  used  in  any  part  of  this  process ; 
no  chlorine  for  bleaching;  no  calendering,  the  sub¬ 
stitute  for  the  latter  being  pressing  between  boards.” 

Caswell  called  his  mill  the  Pioneer.  Caswell’s  family 
remained  in  Oneida  county  until  1814,  when  he  bought  a 
farm  and  moved  them  to  Watertown.  In  1819  he  built 
his  second  mill,  which  was  soon  sold  to  his  brother,  Henry 
Caswell,  and  brother-in-law,  Erastus  Loomis,  and  was 
operated  by  them  and  others  until  it  was  burned  in  1833. 
In  1823  Caswell,  in  company  with  Ralph  Clapp  and 
William  K.  Asherd,  built  a  third  mill  on  Sewall’s  island, 
occupying  part  of  the  premises  owned,  three-quarters  of  a 
century  later,  by  the  Bagley  &  Sewall  Company.  This 
mill  was  torn  down  about  1830.  Caswell  removed  to 
Clayton,  Jefferson  county,  in  1832,  and  died  there  in  1862, 
aged  seventy-eight  years. 

In  1824  George  W.  Knowlton  and  Clark  Rice,  then  liv¬ 
ing  in  Brattleboro,  Vt.,  bought  the  first  two  mills  built 
by  Caswell,  for  $7,000.  For  the  next  thirty  years  Knowl- 

153 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  f/ie  UNITED  STATES 


ton  &  Rice  were,  with  unimportant  exceptions,  the  only 
paper-manufacturers  in  Jefferson  county.  In  1833  they 
abandoned  both  the  old  mills  and  built  on  another  site  a 
new  mill,  which  they  equipped  with  two  rag  engines  and 
a  thirty-six-inch  cylinder  machine.  The  career  of  this 
establishment  has  been  continuous  to  contemporaneous 
times.  It  was  conducted  successfully  until  1848,  when  the 
building  was  burned,  being  replaced  by  a  brick  structure, 
with  improved  machinery  and  a  capacity  of  from  six 


George  W.  Knowlton. 

Pioneer  Paper-Manufacturer  in  Watertown,  N.  Y. 


hundred  to  seven  hundred  pounds  of  paper  per  day,  which 
remained  in  continuous  service  until  it  was  rebuilt,  en¬ 
larged  and  modernized  in  1869  by  Knowlton  Brothers.^®® 
Paper-making  began  in  the  Niagara  Falls  region  in 

J.  AI  Haddock :  History  of  Jefferson  County,  New  York, 
(1895),  p.  203.  S.  W.  Durant  and  H.  B.  Pierce:  History  of  Jef¬ 
ferson  County,  New  York,  (1878),  p.  150.  The  Paper  Trade 
Journal,  October  16,  1897,  p.  45. 

154 


IN  MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHERN  STATES 


1823,  when  Jesse  Symonds,  a  Connecticut  man,  experi¬ 
enced  in  the  paper-trade  world,  arrived  and  began  the 
erection  of  a  mill.  The  water  for  power  was  taken  from 
the  river,  the  right  having  been  purchased  from  Judge 
Augustus  Porter  and  General  Peter  B.  Porter.  Mr.  Sym¬ 
onds  died  before  the  mill  was  completed,  but  his  wife 
continued  the  work  and  leased  the  mill  to  Henry  W. 
Clark,  of  Rochester,  who  made  print,  letter  and  wrap¬ 
ping  paper,  and  found  his  customers  in  the  surrounding 
towns  and  country,  his  men  driving  from  place  to  place 
buying  rags  and  selling  paper. 

When  Clark’s  lease  of  the  mill  expired  he  entered  into 
partnership  with  Albert  H.  Porter,  the  second  son  of  Judge 
Porter,  and  together  they  purchased  a  mill  site  on  Bath 
Island,  with  water  privileges.  For  a  number  of  years  they 
operated  the  mill  successfully  by  the  old  hand  methods,  but 
eventually  a  Fourdrinier  machine  was  introduced,  set  up 
and  run  by  Charles  H.  Symonds,  the  son  of  the  pioneer 
mill  builder.  The  site  on  Bath  Island  was  chosen  in  order 
to  obtain  clear  water  for  the  linen,  ledger,  news  and  writ¬ 
ing  paper,  while  wrapping  paper  was  made  during  the 
periods  of  muddy  water.  In  1840  Clark  sold  his  interest  to 
his  partner.  Porter,  who,  at  this  time,  was  making  paper 
for  the  old  Buffalo  Express  and  the  New  York  Tribune. 
Porter,  in  turn,  sold  to  the  Bradley  brothers;  after  a  few 
years  L.  C.  Woodruff,  of  Buffalo,  became  the  owner,  and 
he  also  rebuilt  the  mill  when,  in  the  course  of  time,  it  was 
destroyed  by  fire. 

Webster,  Ensign  &  Seymour  continued  to  operate  the 
mill  near  Troy  that  they  had  bought  before  the  beginning 
of  the  century.  The  mill  was  worked  largely  in  the 
interests  of  Webster,  who  owned  the  Albany  Gazette,  the 
first  newspaper  started  in  that  city.  In  the  regulation 
advertisement  for  rags  the  Gazette  stated  that  the  mill  was 
making  five  to  ten  reams  of  paper  every  day,  Sundays 
excepted,  a  very  considerable  part  of  which  was  used  by 
the  newspaper.  It  was  urged  that  if  the  neighborhood 
could  supply  the  rags  needed  this  would  mean  a  saving  of 
at  least  £5,000  annually  to  the  city  of  Albany.  Offers  were 
made  of  three  pence  a  pound  for  clean  white  rags,  two 

155 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  m  the  VmTED  STATES 


pence  a  pound  for  white-blue,  brown  and  check  and  pro¬ 
portionate  prices  for  othersd” 

General  Walter  Martin  came  into  the  Black  river  coun¬ 
try  in  1800  and  settled  in  that  part  of  the  town  of  Turin 
which  afterwards  was  Martinsburgh,  obviously  named  for 
its  founder  and  proprietor.  In  1807  he  built  there  a  paper- 
mill  which  was  put  in  operation  by  John  Qark  &  Co.  The 
mill  had  a  pulp  engine  and  was  intermittently  worked  for 
twenty-five  years.  In  its  early  existence  it  produced  writ¬ 
ing  paper,  but  later  its  product  was  wrapping  and  wall¬ 
paper. 

In  1802  Ezra  Sampson,  George  Chittenden  and  Harry 
Croswell  started  a  newspaper.  The  Balance  and  Columbian 
Repository,  in  Hudson,  and  to  supply  their  .press  Chitten¬ 
den  purchased  a  one-vat  paper-mill  that  had  just  been 
transformed  by  Elisha  Pitkin  from  a  grist-mill  situated  at 
Stuyvesant  Falls.  This  was  the  first  paper-mill  in  Colum¬ 
bia  county.  A  few  years  later  Chittenden  built  another 
mill,  the  second  in  the  county,  on  the  same  stream,  Kinder- 
hook  creek,  in  Stockport,  near  Hudson.  He  operated  that 
mill  from  1810  until  his  death  in  1845,  his  sons  ultimately 
being  associated  with  him  in  the  business  and  continuing 
it  after  he  had  died.^®® 

The  smaller  mills  in  New  York  State  at  this  time  varied 
in  value  from  $10,000  to  $40,000  or  more.  The  Onder- 
donk  mill,  which  was  built  in  Hempstead,  L.  I.,  in  1768, 
the  first  in  the  colony,  was  sold  in  1801  to  Daniel  Hoagland 
and  Abraham  Coles  for  $12,500.  The  Beach  mill  in 
Saugerties,  where  the  first  Fourdrinier  machine  in  the 
United  States  was  set  up  in  1827,  was  worth  about  $30,000. 
Other  mills  in  this  class,  besides  those  already  mentioned 
and  many  that  must  be  passed  by,  were  the  Benjamin,  at 
Catskill ;  the  Wood  &  Redington,  near  Schoharie;  the 
Simonds,  Case  &  Co.,  at  Farmington,  and  the  Peck,  at 
Rochester. 

The  Gilpin  brothers,  who,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  pre- 


'"A.  J.  Weise:  The  City  of  Troy  and  Its  Vicinity,  (1886),  p.  229. 
^^^Columbia  County  at  the  End  of  the  Century,  (1900),  pp.  641 
and  655.  F.  Ellis :  History  of  Columbia  County,  New  York, 
(1878),  p.  137. 


156 


IN  MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHERN  STATES 


ceding  century,  had  come  into  the  front  ranks  of  American 
paper  manufacturers,  maintained  their  position  until  long 
after  1800.  Their  paper  became  known  all  over  the  coun¬ 
try.  The  invention  of  the  cylinder  machine  by  Thomas 
Gilpin,  and  other  improvements  that  they  were  able  to 
make,  gave  them  additional  prestige.  But  their  pros¬ 
perity  did  not  endure. 

Not  only  were- they  unfortunate  in  losing  the  advantages 
that  they  expected  to  derive  from  their  revolving  cylinder 
process,  but  worse  disasters  befell  them.  In  the  great 
flood  of  February,  1822,  when  the  Brandywine  rose  twenty 
feet  above  its  banks,  their  dam  was  carried  away,  their 
races  destroyed,  some  of  their  machinery  injured  and 
several  buildings  damaged.  In  April,  1825,  a  fire  destroyed 
several  buildings  of  the  plant  and  much  valuable  ma¬ 
chinery.  A  climax  came  in  1838  when  another  flood 
damaged  the  property  again  and  more  seriously  than 
before.  Thereupon  the  owners,  after  fifty  years  of  busi¬ 
ness,  decided  to  discontinue.  The  estate  was  sold  and  the 
buildings  were  refitted  for  the  manufacture  of  cotton 
goods. 

A  contemporaneous  writer  gave  a  description  of  this 
mill  and  its  surroundings  when  it  was  in  its  prime. 

“Citizens  and  strangers  often  resorted  to  this 
estate  for  a  pleasant  walk  and  to  enjoy  its  beauteous 
scenery,  as  well  as  to  see  the  novelty  and  skill  of 
mechanism,  visit  the  wonder-working  machine  that 
could  turn  out  an  endless  sheet  of  paper.  Paper¬ 
making  is  too  well  known  to  need  a  description.  Yet, 
as  things  here  were  on  the  most  approved  plan,  and 
order  and  neatness  presided,  we  will  venture  to  sketch 
one  apartment  in  the  old  mill — a  large  salle  on  the 
lower  floor,  where  more  than  thirty  women  were 
seated  on  high  stools  at  a  long  table  placed  before 
the  windows,  each  one  having  a  knife  to  pick  the 
motes  from  every  sheet ;  and  they  were  dressed  be- 
corning  their  occupation,  with  a  clean  apron  as  smooth' 
as  if  an  iron  had  just  been  rubbed  over  it.  Not  a 
cobweb  marred  these  white  walls,  nor  was  dust  al¬ 
lowed  to  soil  the  floors. 


Thomas  Scharf:  History  of  Delaware  (1888),  II.,  p.  653. 
157 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  UNITED  STATES 


“Just  above  this,  a  large  and  modern  stone  building 
was  occupied  in  the  same  way.  Many  departments 
of  the  business  were  carried  on  in  each  of  these 
houses.  The  stone  house  below  was  used  for  assort- 


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ing  and  cutting  rags,  and  another  stone  structure  for 
extracting  colors.  In  this,  immense  kettles  were  fixed 
in  furnaces  built  of  stone  that  seemed  immovable. 
“Flat  boats  often  conveyed  paper  on  the  water  from 

158 


IN  MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHERN  STATES 


one  mill  to  another;  but  it  was  generally  taken  in 
wagons  to  the  Wilmington  wharves.  Large  quanti¬ 
ties  yOf  bank  note  paper  were  made  here.  We  have 
seen  whole  pieces  of  new  silk  handkerchiefs  cut  to  mix 
with  the  rags,  to  designate  its  manufacture.”^®® 

Several  attempts  were  made  to  start  paper-manufactur¬ 
ing  in  Pittsburg  and  vicinity,  but  the  enterprise  did  not 
long  endure,  for  the  rolling-mills,  iron  foundries  and  other 
sooty  establishments  put  white  paper  quite  out  of  the 
question.  Local  historical  authorities  have  contributed 
information,  interesting — brief  though  it  is — concerning 
these  early  efforts. 

“We  have  two  extensive  paper  mills,  one  on  the 
Big  Redstone,  and  the  other  near  the  mouth  of 
Little  Beaver  creek,  which  manufacture  good  paper 
of  different  kinds  to  the  value  of  about  25  or  $30,000 
worth  annually.  But  they  do  not  supply  as  much  as 
the  market  stands  in  need  of;  much  of  this  article  is 
yet  hauled  over  the  mountains.  (There  are  six  paper 
mills,  we  are  informed,  in  the  state  of  Kentucky,  one 
of  which  goes  part  of  the  year  by  the  force  of 
steam) —  13^  We  sincerely  admonish  our  good 
housewives  and  their  little  daughters  to  save  all  deem 
linen  and  cotton  RAGS,  for  without  these  no  paper 
can  be  made,  and  without  paper,  books  cannot  be 
printed. 

“In  1813  the  making  of  paper  west  of  the  moun¬ 
tains  had  made  rapid  progress  from  1795,  the  year 
in  which  Jackson  &  Sharpless  got  their  paper-mill 
on  the  Redstone  in  operation,  and  the  first  in  the 
country.  At  that  time  it  was  doubted  whether  rags 
could  be  got  in  sufficient  quantities  to  keep  the  mill 
going.  The  saving  of  rags  has  kept  pace  with  the 
erection  of  mills,  for  notwithstanding  the  consump¬ 
tion  of  seven,  all  are  well  supplied,  and  there  ap¬ 
pears  to  be  a  prospect  of  getting  plenty  for  two 
others  now  erecting.  This  increase  in  domestic 
economy  in  so  short  a  period  is  perhaps  unexam¬ 
pled.  In  1795  there  was  about  ten  or  twelve  thou¬ 
sand  dollars’  worth  of  paper  made  annually,  until 
1808,  when  [John]  Coulter,  [John]  Beaver  and 
[Jacob]  Bowman  erected  a  mill  on  Little  Beaver; 


‘“Elizabeth  Montgomery:  Reminiscences  of  Wilmington,  p.  40. 
^Cramer's  Pittsburgh  Magazine  (1810). 

159 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  UNITED  STATES 


this  also  made  paper  to  an  equal  amount  with  the 
first.  At  this  time,  [1812,]  paper  to  the  amount  of 
about  $80,000  annually,  is  manufactured  in  the 
western  part  of  Pennsylvania  and  in  the  state  of  Ohio, 
besides  what  is  made  in  Kentucky,  which  is  also 
considerable.  The  paper  mills  erected  lately  are 
as  follows : — Messrs.  D.  &  J.  Rogers,  on  the 
Youghiogheny,  three  miles  above  Connellsville ; 
Messrs.  Markle  &  Drum,  on  the  Sewickly,  West¬ 
moreland,  Pa.”^®* 

The  Rogers  mill,  built  in  1810,  was  owned  by  Daniel 
and  Joseph  Rogers  and  Zadoc  Walker,  and  was  the  earliest 
manufacturing  establishment  in  the  township  of  Connells¬ 
ville,  Franklin  county.  The  original  owners  were  suc¬ 
ceeded  by  D.  S.  Knox,  M.  Lore  and  John  Scott,  who  con¬ 
tinued  the  manufacture  of  paper  until  1836,  when  the 
business  was  discontinued.  The  paper  from  this  mill  was 
considered  to  be  of  superior  quality,  and  a  large  business 
was  built  up  by  the  Rogers  brothers  and  their  successors. 
Paper  was  shipped  down  the  Youghiogheny  river  on  flat 
boats  to  various  points,  even  as  far  south  as  New  Orleans. 
Years  ago  only  an  old  stone  house  and  a  mass  of  ruins 
remained  to  indicate  the  location  of  a  once  prosperous 
manufactory  and  the  village  that  surrounded  it. 

In  1816  another  mill  was  started  in  Pittsburg  with  a 
sixteen  horse-power  engine  on  the  Oliver  Evans  principle, 
claimed  to  have  been  the  first  steam  paper-mill  in  the 
United  States.  Forty  helpers  were  employed,  and  annually 
ten  thousand  bushels  of  coal  were  consumed,  sixty  tons  of 
rags  made  into  pulp,  and  paper  to  the  value  of  $30,000 
produced. This  mill  was  in  existence  a  year  later,  in¬ 
cluded  in  a  list  of  the  factories  in  the  city,  published  by 
the  city  council.  Also  it,  or  its  successor,  appears  in  Ly- 
ford’s  Western  Address  Directory  in  1836,  but  after  that 
it  is  not  of  record. 

By  1825  the  number  of  mills  in  western  Pennsylvania 
had  grown  to  be  nine — four  of  them  owned  in  Pittsburg. 
Six,  run  by  water  power,  contained  two  vats  each  and  in 

J.  Trainor  King:  Pittsburgh,  Past  and  Present  (1868),  p.  71. 

'"“J.  L.  Bishop:  History  of  American  Manufactures,  II.,  p.  231. 


160 


IN  MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHERN  STATES 


one  were  three  vats.  Three  others  were  worked  by  steam, 
one  having  three  vats  and  a  twenty  horse-power  engine, 
and  the  others  four  and  six  vats,  respectively,  with  engined 
of  thirty  horse-power.  In  all  the  mills  rags  to  the  value 
of  $68,000  were  annually  consumed,  and  the  annual  prod¬ 
uct  was  valued  at  $150,000.^®* 

In  the  closing  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
western  country  as  far  as  Kentucky  depended  almost  en¬ 
tirely  upon  paper  made  in  a  lone  mill  in  Chambersburg, 
which  was  built  soon  after  1780  by  Dr.  John  Calhoun,  a 
son-in-law  of  Colonel  Benjamin  Chambers,  who  founded 
the  city  that  bears  his  name.  Until  it  was  removed,  in 
1832,  this  mill  had  a  large  product  for  its  day,  and  supplied 
many  newspapers  in  that  part  of  the  country  west  of  the 
Susquehanna  river.  For  many  years,  in  its  early  existence, 
the  Pittsburg  Gazette  was  printed  on  paper  made  in  this 
mill,  the  weekly  supply  being  transported  from  mill  to 
newspaper  on  pack-horses  over  rough  country  roads.^®® 

Another  mill  in  Chambersburg,  Penn.,  as  early  as  1788 
was  built  by  John  Scott,  and  for  a  decade  or  more  after 
that  the  newspapers  of  Pittsburg  and  elsewhere  west  of 
the  Allegheny  mountains  continued  to  be  supplied  from 
this  point. ^®®  In  1790  the  first  really  important  mill  in 
Chambersburg  was  built  by  John  Shryock.  This  was  the 
Hollywell,  and  until  well  into  the  next  century  it  was  one 
of  the  noted  mills  of  the  country.  Printing  paper  and  vari¬ 
ous  kinds  of  wrapping  were  made  there  at  first,  and  then 
bank  note  paper  of  a  superior  quality,  the  United  States 
Government  becoming  a  large  customer.  In  current  fiction 
of  the  time  are  stories  of  how  “Lewis  the  Robber,’’  a 
notorious  local  outlaw  who  was  then  terrorizing  the  com¬ 
munity,  made  frequent  attempts  to  enter  this  mill  at  night 
to  secure  a  supply  of  government  paper  for  counterfeiting 
purposes.  In  the  hands  of  George  A.  Shryock,  who  fol¬ 
lowed  his  father  about  1827,  this  mill  became  identified 

’“‘J.  L.  Bishop :  History  of  American  Manufactures,  II.,  p.  301. 

History  of  Franklin  County,  Pennsylvania,  Warner  Beers  ft 
Co.  (1887),  p.  473. 

“*  I.  H.  McCauley :  Historical  Sketches  of  Franklin  County, 
Pennsylvania  (1878),  p.  55. 


161 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  UNITED  STATES 


with  the  first  experiments  in  mak¬ 
ing  paper  from  straw,  and  to  the 
history  of  that  branch  of  the  in¬ 
dustry  much  of  its  subsequent 
record  belongs.  In  a  few  years, 
under  other  ownership,  it  returned 
to  its  former  employment  of  pro¬ 
ducing  various  kinds  of  paper 
from  rags,  being  fitted  with  more 
modern  machinery  and  many  other 
improvements.^®^ 

A  citizens’  committee  of  the  leading  manufacturers 
situated  in  Delaware  county,  Penn.,  was  appointed  in 
1826  “to  ascertain  the  number,  extent  and  capacity  of 
the  manufactories,  mills  and  unimproved  mill-seats  in 
the  county.”  The  committee,  as  one  of  the  results  of 
its  investigations,  reported  that  there  were  eleven 
paper-mills,  annually  manufacturing  thirty-one  thou¬ 
sand  two  hundred  and  ninety-six  reams  of  paper  valued 
at  $114,712,  and  employing  two  hundred  and  fifteen 
persons,  whose  wages  annually  were  $29,120.  Men¬ 
tioned  first  among  these  establishments  were  the  Ivy 
Mills  and  the  Glen  Mills,  then  operated  by  Mark  Willcox 
and  his  son,  John  Willcox,  who  employed  eighteen  per¬ 
sons  and  produced  annually  one  thousand  five  hundred 
reams  of  fine  paper;  and  a  two-vat  mill  on  Chester  creek, 
owned  by  William  Martin  and  Joseph  W.  Smith,  and 
operated  by  John  B.  Duckett,  who,  with  twenty-three 
helpers,  produced  week  by  week  sixty  reams  of  quarto 
post  and  thirty-three  reams  of  medium  printing.^*® 

In  1817  Thomas  Amies,  a  noted  paper-maker  of  Phila¬ 
delphia,  produced  a  quantity  of  paper  for  a  special  print¬ 
ing  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  which  was 
designed  to  surpass  everything  that  had  been  attempted 
in  America  up  to  that  time.  The  mould  and  felts  were 
made  expressly  for  the  purpose,  the  size  of  the  sheet  was 
twenty-six  by  thirty-six  inches  and  only  the  finest  linen 

^'‘''History  of  Franklin  County,  Pennsylvania  (1887),  p.  474. 

“'John  Hill  Martin :  Chester  and  Its  Vicinity,  (1877),  pp.  230-234. 

162 


IN  MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHERN  STATES 


rags  were  used.  Each  ream  weighed  one  hundred  and 
forty  pounds  and  the  price  was  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  dollars.  Amies  was  at  one  time  superintendent  of 
the  Willcox  Ivy  Mills  at  Chester,  but  when  he  made  this 
paper  he  owned  and  operated  the  Dove  Paper  Mills,  Lower 
Merion,  Montgomery  county.  He  had  drawn  upon  the 
Willcox  establishment  for  the  name  of  his  mill  and  for 
his  paper  he  also  appropriated  the  Willcox  dove  water¬ 
mark. 

Another  Chester  county  mill  that  had  a  long  and  sub¬ 
stantial  existence  was  that  of  the  Mode  family  in  Modena. 
The  building  was  erected  in  1810  by  William  Mode,  whose 
sons,  Alexander  and  William,  began  to  make  paper  there 
in  1812,  producing  daily  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds.  In  1840  the  business  was  discontinued,  but  ten 
years  later  William  and  Alexander  Mode,  sons  of  the 
second  William  Mode,  remodeled  the  building,  put  in 
modern  machinery  and  continued  the  business  until 
toward  the  end  of  the  century.  They  increased  the  prod¬ 
uct  of  the  mill  to  two  thousand  five  hundred  pounds  and 
it  is  said  that  on  “one  occasion  they  had  paper  made,  dried 
and  cut  into  sheets  in  three  hours  after  the  rags  were 
sorted,”  which  was  boasted  of  as  a  very  remarkable  per¬ 
formance.^®® 

Samuel  Jackson  and  Jonathan  Sharpless  operated  their 
mill  on  the  Redstone  creek  in  Fayette  county,  until  1810. 
After  that  it  was  run  by  members  of  the  Jackson  and 
Sharpless  families  in  successive  generations  until,  in  Oc¬ 
tober,  1842,  it  was  burned  with  a  large  stock  of  paper,  all 
valued  at  $20,000 ;  and  that  disaster  brought  the  business 
to  an  end  after  fifty  successful  years. 

In  Beaver  Valley,  New  Castle  county,  Delaware,  about 
seven  miles  from  Wilmington,  but  more  nearly  in  Penn¬ 
sylvania  the  Sunny  Dale  mill  had  its  beginning  in  the 
early  part  of  this  century  and  it  lasted  for  more  than  a 
hundred  years.  A  woolen-mill  was  built  there,  in  1811, 
by  John  Ferra,  but  that  was  soon  burned  and  was  rebuilt 

“*  J.  Smith  Futhey  and  Gilbert  Cope :  History  of  Chester  County, 
Pennsylvania  (1881),  p.  175. 

”*F.  Ellis:  History  of  Fayette  County,  Pennsylvania,  (\S82),p.  622. 

163 


SUNNYDALE  PaPER  MiLL— P.XTERICR. 


IN  MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHERN  STATES 


as  a  paper-mill.  When  John  Ferra  died  he  was  succeeded 
by  his  son,  Daniel  Ferra,  who  kept  the  mill  until  his  death 
in  1860,  having  once  rebuilt  it  after  it  was  burned  in  1850. 
Francis  Tempest  then  became  the  owner  and  operated  it 
for  more  than  fifty  years.  In  its  early  days  of  hand-work, 
writing  and  book  papers  were  made,  but  later,  tissue  was 
the  product,  the  machine  equipment  being  a  thirty-six  inch 
cylinder  and  two  one  hundred  and  forty  pound  engines. 
The  power  was  water  and  steam  and  the  capacity  one 
thousand  pounds  per  week.  It  was  a  one-man  as  well 
as  a  one-machine  mill.  Tempest  did  all  the  work,  buying 
the  materials,  running  the  engine,  making  the  paper  and 
selling  his  goods. Thus  it  existed  until  1901  when  it 
came  into  the  possession  of  Edwin  Garrett.  The  new 
owner  enlarged  and  improved  it,  making  it  more  modern 
and  increasing  its  output. 

In  Drake’s  Cincinnati,  published  in  1815,  there  is  men¬ 
tion  of  “new  and  valuable  paper-mills  erected  on  the 
Little  Miami  river.”  The  mills  referred  to  are  believed  to 
have  been  that  of  Kugler  at  Milford,  and  that  of  Howells 
at  Lockport  about  two  miles  above  Milford.  Both  made 
wrapping  and  writing  paper,  the  daily  product  not  exceed¬ 
ing  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds. 
Kugler’s  mill  was  built  between  1800  and  1810  by  a  settler 
named  Wallsmith  who  bought  the  waterpower  at  Milford 
and  erected  a  saw-mill,  flour-mill,  carding-mill,  dis¬ 
tillery,  and  paper-mill.  Mathias  Kugler,  who  was-  em¬ 
ployed  in  the  paper-mill,  eventually  became  the  owner. 

The  mill  at  Lockport,  converted  from  a  flour-mill,  was 
started  by  Frank  Howells  shortly  after  Wallsmith  had 
erected  the  mill  at  Milford ;  it  produced  wrapping,  news, 
print  and  writing  papers,  but  the  amount  was  small  and 
the  prices  big.  A  few  miles  farther  up  the  Little  Miami 
Joseph  Duval,  about  1815,  built  a  mill  which  was  in  opera¬ 
tion  several  years.  Duval  was  of  French  extraction 
and  had  come  from  Philadelphia.  He  was  socially  promi¬ 
nent  in  Lebanon,  near  which  place  he  built  his  mill,  and 
was  famous  for  entertaining. 

"'^The  Paper  Trade  Journal,  October  16,  1897,  p.  11. 

165 


SUNNYDALE  PaPER  MiLL — INTERIOR. 


IN  MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHERN  STATES 


Before  1830  two  mills  were  built  in  Cincinnati,  one  by 
Thomas  Graham,  who  has  been  credited  with  inventing 
and  constructing  the  first  paper-machine  in  the  West  to  be 
worked  by  power.  The  night  before  the  mill  was  ready 
to  start,  in  December,  1826,  it  was  destroyed  by  an  incen¬ 
diary  fire.  The  owners  immediately  rebuilt  it,  called  it  the 
Phoenix  and  had  it  ready  for  operation  in  June,  1827. 
The  building  was  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  feet  by 
thirty-six  feet  and  was  equipped  with  steam  engines. 
About  half  a  mile  down  on  the  bank  of  the  Ohio  the  Cin¬ 
cinnati  Steam  Paper  Mill,  owned  by  Messrs.  Phillips  & 
Spear,  was  located.  This  was  also  worked  by  steam  and 
employed  about  forty  hands,  producing  a  “large  quantity 
of  excellent  paper”  of  an  estimated  value  annually  of 
$22,000.^^^  These  mills  comprised  all  the  paper-manu¬ 
facturing  in  Ohio  prior  to  1825  or  1830. 

Several  mills  were  in  Tennessee  in  the  early  part  of  this 
century,  although  since  the  civil  war  that  has  not  been  a 
paper-manufacturing  state.  Precisely  when  or  where  the 
beginning  was  made  is  not  certain,  but  it  is  believed  that 
mills  were  operated  in  or  before  1810.  About  that  time 
the  general  assembly  of  the  state  determined  to  encourage 
the  manufacture  of  paper  and  two  statutes  were  enacted, 
the  first,  which  was  passed  on  November  13,  1809,  heing 
as  follows :  j '  * 

“Whereas,  it  is  considered  by  the  present  legisla¬ 
ture  that  an  increase  in  the  home  manufacture  will 
promote  the  independence  of  our  rising  state ;  There¬ 
fore,  be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
State  of  Tennessee  that,  from  and  after  the  passage 
of  this  act,  all  persons  immediately  in  the  employment 
of  the  manufacture  of  paper  in  any  of  the  paper-mills 
erected  in  this  State,  or  that  may  be  employed  in  any 
mill  that  may  hereafter  be  erected,  that  they  be  and 
are  hereby  exempt  from  working  on  roads  or  high¬ 
ways  or  from  attending  musters  in  the  companies, 
regiments  or  battalions  to  which  they  belong,  provided 
that  in  all  calls  for  militia  they  shall  be  subject  in  the 
same  manner  as  they  would  have  been  had  this  act 
never  been  passed.” 

‘”B.  Drake  and  D.  Mansfield:  Cincinnati  in  1826. 

167 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  m  the  UNITED  STATES 


The  second  statute,  which  went  into  effect  on  November 
23,  1811,  read  as  follows: 

“To  encourage  the  manufacture  of  paper:  Be  it 
enacted,  That  all  persons  who  are  owners  of  paper, 
or  shall  hereafter  be,  shall  be  allowed  to  employ  some 
person  to  peddle  and  merchandise  rags  without  paying 
tax,  provided  nothing  herein  contained  shall  authorize 
those  persons  to  take  or  receive  any  money  or  articles 
for  said  goods  but  rags.” 

W.  S.  Whiteman,  of  Knoxville,  was  one  of  the  pioneers 
in  Tennessee  and  in  the  South.  Reared  near  Philadelphia, 
he  learned  the  business  of  paper-making  in  the  mills  in  or 
adjoining  that  city,  and  went  to  Tennessee  probably  as 
early  as  1806.  It  was  not,  however,  until  years  later,  some 
time  previous  to  1837,  as  nearly  as  can  be  ascertained,  that 
he  built  a  mill  on  Middle  Brook  creek,  about  four  miles 
from  Knoxville,  and  successfully  operated  it  for  a  few 
years  prior  to  his  death  in  1840.  The  machinery  for  this 
mill,  exceedingly  primitive,  though  fully  up  to  that  date, 
was  hauled  in  wagons  from  Philadelphia,  the  only  means 
of  transportation  from  Philadelphia  to  Knoxville  then 
existing. 

A  son  of  Whiteman,  W.  S.  Whiteman,  Jr.,  grew  up 
with  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  business  of  making 
paper  and,  going  to  Nashville,  became  associated  with 
John  A.  McEwen,  O.  B.  Hayes  and  John  M.  Hill,  who  had 
already  built  a  mill  there  about  1835  or  soon  after.  Opera¬ 
tion  of  this  mill,  which  was  on  the  bank  of  the  Cumberland 
river,  continued  for  eleven  or  twelve  years  under  this  joint 
ownership,  and  then  by  Whiteman  alone.  Afterwards 
interested  with  the  Whiteman  enterprise  was  W.  O.  Har¬ 
ris,  the  chief  owner  and  manager  of  The  Nashville  Banner, 
who  assisted  in  building  up  the  business  of  another  mill  on 
White’s  creek,  about  eight  miles  from  Nashville,  to  which 
the  machinery  of  the  Nashville  mill  was  removed.  A  pulp 
mill  was  also  built  on  Paradise  Ridge. 

The  first  Nashville  mill  ultimately  passed  into  the  hands 
of  the  Rock  City  Paper  Manufacturing  Company.  On 
Duck  river,  about  a  mile  from  the  town  of  Manchester, 
Whiteman  Brothers  operated  a  paper-mill  for  several 

168 


IN  MIDDLE  AND  SOUTHERN  STATES 


years,  and  in  1837,  on  the  Cumberland  river,  about  a  mile 
above  Gallatin  Landing,  Morris  &  Rogers  built  a  mill.”* 
In  1840  there  were  six  mills  in  the  state,  the  Grainger, 
Knox,  McMinn,  Sullivan,  Davidson  and  Sumner.  To¬ 
gether  they  had  a  capital  of  $103,000,  and  produced  an¬ 
nually  paper  to  the  value  of  $60,000.  In  1860  there  were 
but  two  mills  left,  with  a  capital  of  $28,000  and  an  annual 
product,  valued  at  $14,500.^^^ 

In  Kentucky,  between  1800  and  1805,  Isaac  Yarnall 
built  two  single-vat  mills  about  six  miles  west  of  Lexing¬ 
ton  and  a  one-vat  mill  was  also  started  in  Logan  county. 
During  the  first  decade  of  the  century  there  was  also  a 
mill  at  Great  Crossing,  on  the  Elkhorn  river,  but  whether 
that  was  Craig’s  mill,  that  was  built  in  1792,  is  not  known. 

An  emigrant’s  directory,  issued  from  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  in 
1817,  mentioned  that  in  the  state  of  Kentucky  there  were 
several  paper-mills  and  that  in  Lexington  there  were  two 
mills  operated  by  steam.  The  first  mill  in  Louisville  was 
built  in  1814  by  the  firm  of  Jacob  &  Hicks,  and  most  of 
its  product  was  sold  to  the  Western  Courier. 

In  1820-21  Amos  Kendall,  who  afterwards  became  post¬ 
master-general  in  the  cabinet  of  Andrew  Jackson,  built  the 
Franklin  mill  on  the  main  Elkhorn,  a  mile  and  a  half  below 
what  is  known  as  the  Forks  of  Elkhorn,  a  Kentucky  village 
of  considerable  size.  A  year  previous  there  had  been  talk 
of  the  federal  government  establishing  an  armory  in  that 
locality,  and  Kendall,  acting  on  inside  advance  knowledge 
of  the  plan,  had  purchased  the  land  on  speculation  so  as  to 
sell  it  to  the  government.  He  began  the  erection  of  his 
mill  in  the  summer  of  1820,  and  it  was  completed  early  in 
1821.  Later  the  property  was  purchased  by  E.  H.  Stead¬ 
man  and  was  operated  by  him  and  others  with  only  indif¬ 
ferent  financial  results.  In  1875  it  was  purchased  by 
Dupont  &  Co.,  who  removed  the  machinery  to  another  mill 
which  they  owned  in  Louisville. 

"*  R.  A.  Halley:  Paper-making  in  Tennessee.  In  The  American 
Historical  Magazine,  IX.  (1904),  pp.  213-216. 

"‘Goodspeed:  History  of  Tennessee  (1886),  p.  275, 


169 


CHAPTER  NINE 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  MACHINERY 
Hollander  Engines  for  Pulp-Beating — Invention  of 

THE  FoURDRINIER  AND  ItS  IMPORTATION  INTO  THE 

United  States — Americans  Invent  and  Improve 
Cylinder  Machines — Other  Inventors  and  In¬ 
ventions — Radical  Changes  in  Manufacturing 
Methods  Are  Gradually  Introduced 

UNTIL  well  into  the  nineteenth  century  the  original 
hand  processes  in  paper-making  had  not  been  much 
improved  upon.  Only  a  very  few  small  mechanical 
devices  had,  from  time  to  time,  been  introduced  into  the 
mills,  mildly  to  increase  their  efficiency.  But  the  vat-men 
continued  to  dip  the  pulp  into  the  moulds  and  shake  out  the 
water  until  the  sheet  was  formed,  and  the  sheets  continued 
to  be  hung  separately  on  rods  in  the  lofts  to  dry  The  mill 
of  1800,  save  in  the  substitution  of  the  beating  engine  for 
the  fermentation  or  the  stamping  methods  of  reducing  rags 
to  pulp,  was  not  materially  different  from  that  of  1700. 
More  than  one  hundred  years  had  elapsed  since  the  first 
mill  had  been  built  in  Pennsylvania  but  the  American  in¬ 
dustry  was  still  in  an  infantile  state,  as  far  as  any  appreci¬ 
able  attempt  had  been  made  to  introduce  machinery  or  new 
methods. 

In  the  beginning  of  paper-making  from  pulp  the  rags 
were  reduced  by  washing  them  in  water  and  then  setting 
the  mass  to  ferment  for  many  days  in  close  vessels  until 
the  desired  pasty  state  of  comminution  had  been  attained. 
An  advance  upon  this  crude  method  came  in  the  introduc¬ 
tion  of  stamping  rods  to  beat  the  rags  into  pulp.  These 

170 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  MACHINERY 


rods,  incased  with  iron  at  one  end,  were  operated  in  oaken 
mortars.  To  some  extent,  at  first,  they  were  worked  by 
hand  but  most  generally  they  were  moved  by  water-wheel 
machinery.  Even  this  method  of  getting  pulp  was  tedious 
and  unsatisfactory  enough.  Sometimes  forty  pairs  of 
stamps  would  be  required  to  work  steadily  twenty-four 
hours  in  order  to  prepare  a  hundred  pounds  of  rags. 

Then  came  the  beating  engine  or  Hollander,  so  called 
from  the  supposed  country  of  its  origin.  Most  author¬ 
ities  on  this  subject  have  placed  this  machine  first  about 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Some  even  have 
given  1750  as  the  precise  year  of  its  appearance  and  that 
date  has  been  generally  accepted.  Doubts  exist  concern¬ 
ing  this,  however,  and  it  must  be  conceded  that  good 
reasons  have  been  adduced  to  show  that  the  machine  or, 
at  least,  something  analogous  to  it,  was  in  use  a  half 
century  or  more  before  that  time.  The  case  has  been 
concisely  stated  by  an  English  writer: 

“Unfortunately  the  date  of  the  invention  of  this 
important  machine  has  not  been  definitely  traced.  The 
earliest  mention  of  it  seems  to  occur  in  Sturm’s 
‘V ollstandige  Milhlen  Baukunst/  published  in  1718. 
It  was  in  extensive  use  in  Saardam  in  1697,  so  that 
the  invention  is  at  least  some  years  previous  to 
1690.’’ 

But  by  whomsoever  invented  or  wheresoever  first  used, 
the  machine,  as  it  was  finally  developed  in  Holland,  was 
for  a  process  of  macerating  rags  into  pulp  for  paper¬ 
making  by  means  of  a  revolving  cylinder  armed  with  metal 
blades  which  rotated  in  close  proximity  to  a  stationary 
plate  composed  of  similar  blades.  Between  these  blades 
the  stock  was  drawn  by  the  motion  of  the  roll  and  sub¬ 
jected  to  continuous  beating  until  it  was  reduced  to  pulp 
consistency.  The  Hollander  has  been  in  uninterrupted  use 
to  the  present  day  although  the  modern  machine  repre¬ 
sents  a  great  advance  over  its  prototype.  During  the  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty  or  more  years  that  have  elapsed  since  it  was 
devised  it  has  been  greatly  changed,  enlarged  and  im- 


“*R.  W.  Sindall:  The  Manufacture  of  Paper,  (1908),  p.  16. 

171 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STy\TES 


proved ;  and  others,  patterned  after  it,  have  arisen.  But 
the  fundamental  principle  of  the  original  still  remains  in 
the  modern  beating  engines  which  are  essential  instru¬ 
ments  in  all  paper-making. 

In  Holland  the  first  engines  were  small  and  were  driven 
by  wind-mills,  the  principal  source  of  power  in  that  coun¬ 
try.  The  new  machine  was  slow  in  being  accepted  else¬ 
where,  but  it  soon  superseded  the  old  process  in  Holland. 
It  is  said  that,  in  1770,  there  were  eleven  large  mills  in 
Holland  where  the  engines  driven  by  wind-mills  accom¬ 
plished  more  in  an  hour  than  the  mills  in  Germany,  where 
water-power  was  used  with  stampers,  could  perform  in 
six  hours.  In  the  United  States  the  Hollanders  were  run 
by  water-power  at  first  and  long  afterward  by  steam- 
power.  Their  introduction  made  the  first  decided  change 
in  methods  that  the  mills  had  known,  increasing  their 
power  of  production  and  improving  the  quality  of  the  paper 
that  was  made,  and  enabling  the  industry  to  go  on  to  a 
wider  development  than  it  had  before  known.  Supple¬ 
menting  the  beating  engine  came  the  Jordan,  an  American 
invention,  which  takes  the  pulpy  mass  from  the  stuff- 
chest  and  further  cleanses  and  refines  it  and  makes  it  of 
uniform  consistency  before  it  is  finally  delivered  to  the 
paper-machine. 

In  the  early  years  of  the  century  a  few  men  of  a  me¬ 
chanical  turn  of  mind  in  Europe  and  in  the  United  States 
were  giving  more  thought  to  the  possibility  of  devising 
some  method  of  making  paper  by  machinery.  In  other 
industries  machinery  had  been  introduced  with  promising 
results,  and  the  advantages  that  should  accrue  from  its 
adoption  in  paper-manufacturing  could  be  safely  predicted. 
For  half  a  century  the  Hollander  had  been  gradually  com¬ 
ing  into  extended  use  and  with  this,  pulp  could  now  be 
produced  in  larger  quantity  than  it  could  be  utilized  in 
ordinarily  equipped  mills,  with  the  vat-men  working  onl> 
by  hand.  A  faster  method  of  transforming  the  pulp  into 
paper  was  an  economic  necessity.  Machines  were  needed 
to  supplement  the  Hollander  and  naturally  they  came,  the 
Fourdrinier  first. 

The  Fourdrinier  was  invented  by  Nicolas  Louis  Robert 

172 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  MACHINERY 


who,  while  managing  a  large  paper-mill  in  Essones,  owned 
by  St.  Leger  Didot  of  the  famous  French  family  of  pub¬ 
lishers,  conceived  the  idea  of  making  paper  in  a  continuous 
sheet.  After  several  years  experimenting  he  produced  a 
machine  which  consisted  of  an  endless  wire  band  passing 
between  two  squeezing  rolls,  and  this  was  the  primitive 
beginning  of  what  was  developed  into  one  of  the  most 
marvellous  of  modern  machines. 

Robert  obtained  a  patent  in  1799.  He  had  been  assisted 
by  his  employer,  Didot,  to  whom  the  patent  for  the  new 
machine  was  now  transferred.  John  Gamble,  a  brother- 
in-law  of  Didot,  became  interested  and,  going  to  England, 
took  out  patents  there.  Didot  and  Gamble  entered  into 
arrangements  with  Henry  and  Sealey  Fourdrinier,  whole¬ 
sale  stationers,  who  financed  the  invention  in  England. 
With  them  Bryan  Donkin,  a  practical  mechanic  and  ma¬ 
chinist,  was  associated  and  he  made  improvements  on  the 
original,  a  new  machine  being  patented  in  1807  by  the 
Fourdriniers  and  John  Gamble  and  first  made  in  1808.  In 
principle  it  was  the  Robert  machine,  but  already  it  was 
far  in  advance  of  that. 

The  Fourdrinier  brothers  spent  over  i60,000  experi¬ 
menting  and  improving  the  machine  and  in  consequence 
thereof  were  forced  into  bankruptcy.  With  them  Robert, 
Didot  and  Gamble  were  ruined.  In  1840  a  grant  of  £7,000 
was  made  to  the  Fourdriniers  and  that,  with  the  distinc¬ 
tion  of  having  the  machine  forever  known  by  their  name, 
was  all  that  ever  came  to  them  for  their  labors  and  ex¬ 
penditures.  Robert  had  previously  received  from  the 
French  government  a  bounty  of  eight  thousand  francs  and 
that  was  the  sum  total  of  his  profits  from  his  ingenuity. 
Bryan  Donkin  was  the  only  one  of  the  group  who  profited 
financially.  Devoting  himself  to  the  manufacture  of  the 
machine  he  did  well  and  eventually  was  successful  in 
establishing  a  large  business  out  of  it. 

In  point  of  date  the  Fourdrinier,  in  France  and  in  Eng¬ 
land,  was  the  first  really  great  invention  that  paper-manu¬ 
facturing  had  known.  So  great  indeed  was  it  that,  not 
only  did  it  practically  revolutionize  paper-making  the  world 
over,  in  the  course  of  time,  but  it  became  firmly  fixed  as 

173 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  UNITED  STATES 


the  one  fundamental  factor  of  the  industry  in  its  modern 
existence,  elevating  it  into  the  front  rank  of  mechanical 
pursuits. 

Meantime,  however,  others  had  been  working  along 
somewhat  similar  lines  toward  the  same  end  that  Robert 
had  reached.  John  Dickinson,  of  England,  succeeded  in 
1809.  He  invented  and  patented  a  cylinder  covered  with 
a  wire  cloth,  the  cylinder  to  revolve  in  a  vat  filled  with  pulp 
which,  by  a  system  of  suction,  was  made  to  adhere  to  the 
cloth  until  the  paper  sheet  was  formed,  when  it  was  passed 
on  to  another  cylinder  covered  with  felting.  Whether  the 
Dickinson  invention  was  early  known  in  the  United  States 
cannot  be  said ;  but  the  first  American  paper-making  ma¬ 
chine  may  have  been  suggested  by  it  or  may  have  been 
worked  out  independently. 

Models  in  the  patent  office  were  destroyed  when  the 
building  of  the  treasury  department  in  Washington  was 
burned  in  1836,  and  specifications  of  very  few  of  the  pat¬ 
ents  issued  prior  to  that  date  can  now  be  found.  A  patent 
for  a  paper-mill  was  issued  to  Thomas  Langstroth  of 
Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania,  in  1804,  and  a  patent  for  a 
paper-making  machine  to  Charles  Kinsey  of  Essex,  N.  J., 
in  1807.  It  has  been  thought  that  possibly  in  these  patents 
the  Gilpin  and  the  Ames  machines  of  later  date  may  have 
been  anticipated.  Positive  evidence  of  this,  however,  is 
lacking,  and  it  is  altogether  unlikely  that  if  such  machines 
were  brought  out  they  did  not  endure  long  enough  to  leave 
some  record,  even  though  slight,  of  their  performances. 

At  any  rate  it  was  nearly  twenty  years  after  the  inven¬ 
tion  of  the  Fourdrinier  in  France  and  seven  years  after 
the  appearance  of  Dickinson’s  cylinder  machine  in  Eng¬ 
land  before  the  American  machine  can  be  said  to  have 
really  appeared.  At  that  time  nothing  was  known  here 
about  the  Fourdrinier  or  the  cylinder  in  any  practical 
way.  Both  had  been  slow  in  adoption  even  in  England, 
and  as  for  the  United  States,  they  had  not  been  discovered 
— or,  at  least,  only  theoretically. 

Description  has  already  been  given  of  the  Gilpin  mill, 
near  Wilmington,  Del.,  and  an  account  of  its  pre-eminence 
for  half  a  century,  and  brief  reference  has  been  made  to 

174 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  MACHINERY 


its  peculiar  distinction  as  being  the  home  of  the  real  be¬ 
ginning  of  the  making  of  paper  by  machinery  in  the 
United  States.  Gilpin  had  been  long  experimenting  be¬ 
fore  he  solved  the  problem  of  a  paper-making  machine. 
In  December,  1816,  he  was  able  to  take  out  his  patent  and 
in  August  of  the  following  year  he  put  the  machine  into 
actual  use  in  his  mill,  running  off,  for  the  first  time,  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  machine-made  paper,  in  place  of 
the  hand-made  article.  The  invention  showed  increase  of 
speed  and  power,  as  well  as  economy  in  cost  of  producing. 
The  Gilpin  machine  was  more  simple  and,  as  was  ulti¬ 
mately  demonstrated,  less  efficient  than  the  Fourdrinier, 
but  it  demonstrated  the  wide  possibility  of  a  very  great 
advance  in  the  manufacturing  of  paper.  It  was  merely  a 
revolving  cylinder  making  paper  continuous  and  endless 
in  length  instead  of  in  single  sheets.  In  no  respect  was 
it  an  advance  upon,  even  if  it  was  equal  to,  the  Dickinson 
of  England.  But  its  introduction  into  the  mills  of  the 
United  States  anticipated  all  the  foreign  machines  by  a 
few  years,  at  least,  and  gave  the  first  decided  impulse  in 
this  country  to  the  making  of  paper  by  machinery. 

When  finally  Gilpin  felt  confident  of  success  he  sent  to 
Philadelphia  a  sample — writing  paper  of  excellent  quality 
— taken  from  a  sheet  one  thousand  feet  long  and  twenty- 
seven  inches  wide  and  had  it  deposited  with  the  American 
Philosophical  Society.  Shortly  after,  the  mill  began  to 
furnish  this  machine-made  paper  to  the  market,  first  for 
Poulson’s  American  Daily  Advertiser  of  Philadelphia  and 
for  other  newspapers,  and  then  for  book  editions  and  for 
writing.  In  1820  and  1821  this  kind  of  paper  was  fur¬ 
nished  to  Matthew  Carey  &  Son,  the  Philadelphia  publish¬ 
ers,  for  the  letter-press  and  colored  copper-plate  engrav¬ 
ings  for  the  printing  of  the  first  American  editions  of 
Lavoisne’s  famous  Complete  Genealogical,  Historical, 
Chronological  and  Geographical  Atlas.  This  was  five  or 
six  years  before  any  paper  was  made  from  a  Fourdrinier 
in  this  country. 

News  of  this  invention  speedily  went  out,  for  its  tangible 
results  began  to  have  their  natural  effect  upon  the  trade. 
A  wide  and  substantial  reputation  accrued  to  the  Gilpin 

175 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  UNITED  STATES 


mills  for  the  quantity  and  the  quality  of  the  new  kind  of 
paper  that  they  were  able  to  produce,  and  their  prosperity 
increased  proportionately.  The  Gilpins  made  every  effort 
to  keep  their  machine  a  secret,  but  it  was  impossible  to 
hide  it  altogether  and  permanently.  The  more  the  success 
of  the  machine  was  demonstrated,  the  more  were  jealousy 
and  envy  excited  among  other  manufacturers. 

That  it  would  seriously  and  permanently  affect  business 
throughout  the  country  was  perfectly  obvious,  and  all 
means,  fair  and  unfair,  were  taken  to  procure  knowledge 
of  it.  Eventually,  by  obtaining  scraps  of  information  from 
some  of  the  Gilpin  workpeople  and  by  careful  study  of 
the  patent,  sufficient  ideas  were  obtained  to  render  eva¬ 
sions  of  the  patent  possible.  Experiments  were  made  by 
other  proprietors  of  mills  and  they  were  soon  able  to  profit 
by  the  new  idea.  In  this  they  were  undoubtedly  aided  to 
some  extent  by  increasing  knowledge  here  of  the  char¬ 
acter  of  the  English  cylinders.  Within  a  few  years  the 
Gilpins  found  that  they  could  not  permanently  retain  the 
advantage  over  competitors  that  their  cylinder  had 
for  a  time  given  them.  Several  new  and  improved  cylin¬ 
ders  were  brought  out  before  1830.  Eventually  the  cylin¬ 
ders  were  generally  introduced  into  mills  everywhere  and 
the  prestige  of  the  invention  and  the  credit  of  having 
begun  the  making  of  paper  by  machinery  in  the  United 
States  have  never  been  fully  accorded  to  Thomas 
Gilpin. 

The  story  has  been  told,  and  has  been  generally  accepted 
as  true,  that  John  Ames  of  Springfield,  during  a  visit  to 
New  York,  heard  of  the  Gilpin  machine  and  its  wonderful 
work,  and  thereupon  took  means  to  find  out  about  it  and 
to  appropriate  the  principle  involved  in  it,  with  the  result 
that  he  was  soon  able  to  make  a  better  machine  of  the 
kind  for  his  mills.  Whether  this  is  true  or  not  cannot 
now  be  determined.  About  all  that  we  surely  know  is  that 
John  Ames  was  a  mechanical  genius  and  a  clever  inventor. 
The  Dickinson  cylinder  machine  was  patented,  in  Eng¬ 
land,  in  1809,  the  Gilpin  in  1816,  and  the  Ames  in  1822 


J.  Thomas  Scharf :  History  of  Delaware,  (1888),  II.,  p.  653. 

176 


The  Smallest  Paper-Machine  in  the  World. 

Reproduced  from  The  Pat'er  Trade  Journal,  October  16,  1897. 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  UNITED  STATES 


— May  22.  Ames  was  thirteen  years  after  Dickinson  and 
six  years  after  Gilpin.  He  may  have  been  an  original  in¬ 
ventor  following  original  research,  or  he  may  have  been 
merely  an  imitator.  After  him  came  Isaac  Burbank  of 
Worcester,  Mass.,  in  1824;  Gardiner  Burbank  of  Worces¬ 
ter,  in  1826;  Isaac  Sanderson  of  Milton,  Mass.,  in  1829. 

But  the  new  machine  brought  more  trouble  than  profit 
to  the  Ameses  in  the  beginning.  If  John  Ames  did  really 
steal  the  idea  from  Gilpin,  the  avenging  Nemesis  promptly 
got  after  him.  It  was  evident  that  the  cylinder  was  too 
good  a  thing  to  be  permitted  to  remain  undisturbed  in  the 
possession  of  any  single  concern.  The  struggle  for  it 
began  immediately  and  is  a  matter  of  court  record.  How¬ 
ard  &  Lathrop,  who  had  a  mill  in  South  Hadley,  Mass., 
hired  an  Ames  foreman  and  built  and  put  into  operation 
a  cylinder.  The  Ameses  instituted  suit  for  infringement 
of  patent  and  the  fight  was  on. 

A  combination  of  manufacturers  was  formed  to  oppose 
the  Ames  claims.  Both  sides  sent  attorneys  abroad  to  in¬ 
vestigate,  on  the  contention  that  such  a  machine  had  been 
in  use  before  in  England,  in  France  and  in  Italy.  When 
the  case  came  to  trial,  the  patentee  agreed  that  he  did  not 
claim  invention  of  “the  felting,  vats,  rollers,  presses,  wire- 
cloth,  or  any  separate  parts  of  the  machinery,”  but  did 
claim,  as  his  specific  invention,  “the  construction  and  use 
of  the  peculiar  kind  of  cylinder  and  the  several  parts  there¬ 
of  in  combination  for  the  purposes  aforesaid,”  that  is,  to 
be  used  in  the  vat  containing  paper-pulp.  Thomas  Gilpin, 
in  a  deposition,  was  one  of  the  witnesses  against  Ames. 
The  jury  in  the  case,  which  was  “John  Ames  vs.  Charles 
Howard  and  others,”  found  for  the  plaintiff.  A  new  trial 
was  denied  by  Judge  Joseph  Story  in  the  October  term  of 
the  circuit  court  of  the  United  States,  1833.^^* 

Litigation  did  not  end  with  this  decision,  however.  In¬ 
fringements  continued  and  the  Ameses  were  obliged  to 
fight  for  years  to  protect  themselves.  Their  legal  expenses 
were  a  heavy  burden  to  them  and  in  the  end  they  were 
unable  to  maintain  a  monopoly  in  the  new  process. 

”*  Charles  Sumner :  Reports  of  Cases  Argued  and  Determined  in 
the  Circuit  Court  of  the  U nited  States  for  the  First  Circuit,  l.,p.  482. 

178 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  MACHINERY 


Like  all  other  great  inventions  the  Fourdrinier  had  to 
pass  slowly  through  the  region  of  doubt  and  opposition 
before  it  was  finally  fully  approved  and  accepted.  In  Eng¬ 
land,  between  1803  and  1812,  Donkin  had  made  only  ten 
machines  and  in  the  next  ten  years  twenty-five  more,  a 
total  of  thirty-five  in  nineteen  years.  It  was  not  until  later 
that  the  machine  succeeded  in  establishing  itself  in  sub¬ 
stantial  favor.  In  forty-three  years,  after  his  beginning 


in  1803,  Donkin  had  made  all  told  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
one  machines.  Prior  to  1825,  in  the  United  States,  the 
machine  had  been  heard  of,  but  that  was  all ;  none  had  been 
seen  here. 

It  has  never  been  conclusively  determined  where  and 
when  the  first  Fourdrinier  was  located  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic.  The  best  evidence,  however,  seems  to  indicate 
that  the  machine  was  imported  in  1827  by  Henry  Barclay 

179 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  UNITED  STATES 


of  Saugerties,  N.  Y.,  was  set  up  in  the  mill  in  Saugerties 
owned  by  Beach,  Hommerken  &  Kearney  and  was  there 
started  running  by  Peter  Adams  who  afterward  founded 
the  Peter  Adams  Company  in  Buckland,  Conn.,  and  the 
Adams  &  Bishop  Company  in  Newburgh,  N.  Y.  The  ma¬ 
chine  was  built  by  Donkin  of  London  and  was  sixty  inches 
in  width.  The  senior  member  of  this  firm  of  paper-manu¬ 
facturers  was  Moses  Y.  Beach,  afterward  owner  and 
publisher  of  the  Neiv  York  Sun. 

In  later  years  this  mill  was  owned  by  J.  B.  Sheffield  & 
Son  and  parts  of  the  original  machine  remained  in  use  for 
forty-five  years,  being  finally  destroyed  by  fire  in  1872.  A 
second  Fourdrinier,  sixty-two  inches  wide,  built  by  Joseph 
Newbold,  near  Bury,  England,  was  placed  in  this  mill  in 
1829.  But  prior  to  this,  in  December,  1827,  the  second 
Fourdrinier  in  the  United  States,  sixty  inches  wide,  was 
imported  from  England  and  set  up  in  the  Pickering  Mill, 
in  Windham,  Conn.  In  March  1829  William  Marshall 
from  England  brought  over  a  machine  to  Boston  in  the 
ship  Dover}’’^ 

The  first  Fourdrinier  made  in  the  United  States  was 
by  the  Smith  &  Winchester  Manufacturing  Company  in 
their  shops  in  South  Windham,  Conn.,  in  1829.  It  was 
set  up  in  the  mill  of  Amos  H.  Hubbard, — in  later  time 
The  A.  H.  Hubbard  Company — Norwich,  Conn.,  in  May 
of  that  year.  The  same  company  made  another  machine 
for  Henry  Hudson  of  East  Hartford,  Conn.,  and  a  third 
for  the  mill  of  W.  &  C.  Baldwin,  near  Bloomfield,  N.  J. 
These  three  Fourdriniers  were  all  that  were  made  in  this 
country  before  1833. 

Writing  in  1850,  James  M.  Wilcox  of  the  Ivy  Mills  in 
Pennsylvania,  referred  to  the  advent  of  machinery,  of 
which  he  had  practical  knowledge,  and  said  that  between 
1820  and  1830  the  first  efforts  were  made  to  import  ma¬ 
chinery  from  Europe  but  the  experiments  failed  of  success 
for  the  reason  that  the  machines  [Fourdriniers]  which 
were  brought  from  England  were  sometimes  imperfect 
and  also  cost  too  much.  He  spoke  of  the  machines  made 

"’The  Paper  Trade  Journal,  October  26,  1897,  p.  69. 

180 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  MACHINERY 


at  reasonable  prices  in  1830  by  Phelps  &  Spafford  of  Wind¬ 
ham,  Conn.,  and  soon  after  by  Howe  &  Goddard  of 
Worcester,  Mass.,  and  added,  “I  believe  these  two  estab¬ 
lishments  make  all  in  the  United  States  [1850].”  Mr. 
Willcox  expressed  only  qualified  approval  of  the  cylinder 
machines  then  in  use  saying:  “The  cylinder  machine,  more 
simple  and  less  costly  than  the  other,  is  in  more  general 
use;  but  the  paper  made  on  it  is  not  equal  in  quality.  Not¬ 
withstanding  it  does  very  well  for  news,  and  the  various 
purposes  which  a  coarse  article  will  answer  for.” 


Peter  Adams. 


The  first  felts  produced  in  the  United  States  for  paper 
machines  were  made  in  1864.  Prior  to  that  time  all  end¬ 
less  felts  had  been  imported  from  Europe,  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  cylinder  and  Fourdrinier  machines  had  been 
slowly  increasing  in  number  here  for  nearly  fifty  years. 
The  manufacture  was  undertaken  by  Samuel  T.  Thomas, 
Albert  Johnson,  Andrew  Fuller  and  Charles  C.  Newcomb, 
as  the  firm  of  Johnson,  Fuller  &  Co.  A  mill  in  Camden, 

Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Patents  [United  States]  for 
the  Year  1830,  (1851),  p.  404. 


181 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  UNITED  STATES 


Me.,  was  leased  and  equipped  with  machinery  and  the 
experiment  was  successful  from  the  outset.  New  machin¬ 
ery  was  invented,  the  mill  was  enlarged,  new  buildings 
were  erected  and  the  business  expanded  as  the  demands 
of  the  industry  increased.  In  1872  the  firm  changed  into 
a  stock  company  called  the  Knox  Woolen  Company  and 
has  so  continued  to  the  present  day. 

A  woolen  mill  owned  by  Asa  Shuler,  in  Hamilton,  Ohio, 
made  piece  felts  for  paper-mills  as  early  at  1854.  In  1866, 
having  learned  from  an  English  workman  how  endless 
felts  were  made  abroad,  Shuler  entered  upon  that  branch 
of  manufacturing  and  ultimately,  with  John  W.  Benning- 
hofen  as  a  partner,  the  firm  became  pre-eminently  success¬ 
ful  in  this  line.  Others  who  were  in  the  business  between 
1870  and  1900  were:  H.  Waterbury  and  F.  C.  Huyck, 
Rensselaerville,  N.  Y. ;  The  H.  Waterbury  Sons  Company, 
Oriskany,  N.  Y. ;  H.  C.  Huyck  and  partners  in  Bethlehem 
and  Rensselaer,  N.  Y. ;  The  Acme  Felt  Company  and  The 
Albany  Felt  Company,  Albany,  N.  Y. ;  The  Akron  Woolen 
and  Felt  Company,  Akron,  Ohio,  which,  in  1892,  was  suc¬ 
ceeded  by  the  F.  Gray  Company  of  Piqua,  Ohio;  The 
Lockport  Felt  Company,  Newfane,  N.  Y. ;  The  Megunti- 
cook  Woolen  Company,  Camden,  Me. ;  The  Appleton 
Woolen  Company,  Appleton,  Wis. ;  Green  Brothers,  Caze- 
novia,  N.  Y. ;  The  Rumford  Falls  Woolen  Company, 
Rumford  Falls,  Me. ;  L.  Heathcote,  Glen  Rock,  Pa. ;  Weiss 
&  Son,  Charleston,  Ill. ;  there  had  also  been  mills  in  Law¬ 
rence,  Mass.,  Louisburgh,  Pa.,  Philadelphia  and  elsewhere, 
before  the  end  of  the  century. 

Five  of  these  old  establishments  have  continued  to  the 
present  day:  Shuler  &  Benninghofen,  The  Lockport  Felt 
Company,  The  Appleton  Woolen  Mills,  The  Albany  Felt 
Company  and  The  Knox  Woolen  Company.  In  contem¬ 
poraneous  time  The  Fitchburg  Duck  Mills  have  come  into 
this  line  of  manufacturing.^®^ 

Fourdrinier  wires  continued  to  be  imported  from  Eng¬ 
land  for  twenty  years  after  the  first  Fourdrinier  machine 
was  set  up  in  the  United  States.  In  1847  William  Staniar, 

The  Paper  Trade  Journal,  October  16,  1897,  p.  84. 

182 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  MACHINERY 


who  had  served  his  apprenticeship  in  one  of  the  largest 
wire-cloth  weaving  establishments  in  Manchester,  England, 
came  to  this  country  for  the  express  purpose  of  starting 
the  manufacture  here.  He  was  admitted  to  be  a  member 
of  the  firm  of  Stephens  &  Thomas,  afterward  William  Ste¬ 
phens  &  Son,  wire-weavers,  in  Belleville,  N.  J.  He  brought 


William  Staniar. 

with  him  a  model  from  which  Cornelius  Van  Houten  made 
the  first  American  loom  and  on  this,  Staniar  and  Van  Hou¬ 
ten  wove  the  first  American  wire,  in  September  1847,  That 
wire  was  sixty-two  inches  wide  by  twenty-four  feet  ten 
inches  long  and  was  used  in  the  mill  of  J.  &  R.  Kingsland, 
North  Belleville,  afterward  Franklin,  N,  J. 

It  was  a  difficult  task  introducing  American  wires.  In 

183 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  UNITED  STATES 


the  paper-mills  the  machines  were  generally  run  by  English 
and  Scotch  tenders  who  were  constitutionally  opposed  to 
most  things  American.  Also  there  were  trade  customs  to 
be  overcome  and  importers  tried  in  every  way  to  keep  out 
the  home-made  wires.  In  the  end,  however,  these  wires 
succeeded,  in  spite  of  all  opposition,  and  the  time  soon 
came  when  they  were  recognized  as  being  superior  to 
anything  of  the  kind  that  was  made  in  Europe. 

A  year  after  Staniar,  another  worker  at  wire-weaving, 
Robert  Buchanan,  came  from  Glasgow,  Scotland.  He 
located  in  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  but  his  plant  was  destroyed 
by  fire  before  he  was  able  to  commence  weaving.  There¬ 
upon  he  went  to  work  for  William  Stephens  &  Son  in  Belle¬ 
ville  and  wove  with  John  McMurray,  another  newly- 
arrived  Scot. 

Out  of  the  Stephens  establishment  came,  directly  or 
indirectly,  nearly  all  the  big  wire-weaving  concerns  of  sub¬ 
sequent  years.  In  the  panic  of  1851  William  Stephens  & 
Son  failed.  Staniar  then  started  in  business  for  himself, 
first  in  Belleville  and  then  in  East  Newark,  N.  J.,  where 
the  Staniar  &  Lafifey  Wire  Company  existed  until  into 
the  next  century.  John  McMurray  left  Stephens  and,  with 
the  Cabbie  brothers,  established  another  Fourdrinier  busi¬ 
ness  which  in  time  became  the  William  Cabbie  Excelsior 
Wire  Manufacturing  Company.  The  De  Witt  Wire  Cloth 
Company  succeeded  the  Stephens  concern  in  Belleville  and 
Cornelius  Van  Houten  was  one  of  its  promoters. 

Robert  Buchanan  left  the  De  Witt  company  in  1876  and. 
with  his  sons,  Andrew  and  James,  removed  to  Boston 
where  they  started  Morss  &  Whyte  in  the  business.  Sub¬ 
sequently  they  went  to  Holyoke  and  established  The  Hol¬ 
yoke  Wire  Works  which  eventually  became  The  Buchanan 
&  Bolt  Wire  Company.  William  Buchanan,  another  son 
of  Robert  Buchanan,  served  his  apprenticeship  in  the  shops 
of  Stephens  and  De  Witt  and,  in  1876,  with  Charles  Smith, 
established  the  Standard  Wire  Works  in  Bloomfield,  N.  J. 
In  1877  John  Eastwood  was  admitted  to  partnership  in  the 
Standard  Wire  Works,  the  concern  being  removed  to  Belle¬ 
ville,  and  its  name  changed  to  Eastwood,  Buchanan  & 
Smith  and  then  to  The  Eastwood  Wire  Manufacturing 


184 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  MACHINERY 


Company.  In  1882  William  Buchanan  removed  to  Spring- 
field,  Mass.,  and  there  was  foreman  of  the  Fourdrinier 
department  of  the  Cheney  Bigelow  Wire  Works.  In  1896 
he  went  to  Appleton,  Wis.,  and,  with  two  sons  and  a 
brother-in-law,  established  the  Appleton  Wire  Works. 

Fifty  years  after  the  beginning  there  were  fifteen  or 
more  manufacturers  running  about  two  hundred  broad 
looms  on  Fourdrinier  wires,  cylinder  covers,  dandy  covers 


Cornelius  Van  Houten. 


and  washer  wires.  The  home  mills  were  almost  entirely 
supplied  from  these  sources,  only  a  few  wires,  of  special 
character,  being  imported  from  Great  Britain  and  France. 
The  names  of  the  manufacturers  and  the  locations  of 
their  plants  were : 

Massachusetts — The  Cheney  Bigelow  Wire  Works. 
Springfield ;  Buchanan  &  Bolt  Wire  Company  and  Brown 

185 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  UNITED  STATES 


&  Sellers,  Holyoke;  The  Thistle  Wire  Company,  Lee. 
Connecticut — H.  &  T.  McCluskey  &  Sons.  New  York — 
The  William  Cabbie  Excelsior  Wire  Manufacturing  Com¬ 
pany,  Brooklyn.  New  Jersey — The  De  Witt  Wire  Cloth 
Company  and  The  Eastwood  Wire  Manufacturing  Com¬ 
pany,  Belleville;  Alfred  Workman,  Kearney;  The  Staniar 
&  Laffey  Wire  Company  and  The  Lewis  Wire  Works,  East 
Newark ;  Thomas  E.  Gleeson,  Harrison.  Ohio — The  Reed 
Wire  Works,  Newark;  The  Tyler  Wire  Works,  Cleveland. 
Wisconsin — The  Appleton  Wire  Works,  Appleton. 

In  1916,  of  these  early  manufacturers,  there  were  still 
left  in  the  business  the  Buchanan  &  Bolt  Wire  Company, 
The  Cheney  Bigelow  Wire  Works,  The  Eastwood  Wire 
Manufacturing  Company  and  Thomas  E.  Gleeson,  Inc. ; 
with  them  were  The  Lindsay  Wire  Weaving  Company, 
Cleveland,  O. ;  The  Joseph  O’Neil  Wire  Works,  Southport, 
Conn.,  and  The  Standard  Wire  Company,  Harrison,  N.  J. 

The  first  American  dandy  roll  was  made  in  the  Stephens 
shop,  Belleville,  N.  J.,  in  1847,  by  Cornelius  Van  Houten. 
William  Staniar  lettered  this  and  he  has  told  how  “four 
impressions  of  a  sheet  22x24  were  taken  off  and  forty-two 
impressions  put  in  the  same  place,  there  being  1,092  letters, 
some  of  which  (Romans)  were  not  more  than  one-eighth 
of  an  inch  in  size.” 

Before  1800  four  patents  relating  to  the  manufacture 
of  paper  were  taken  out  in  the  United  States.^®®  In  the 
thirty-eight  years  ending  January  1839,  patents  to  the 
number  of  eighty-eight  were  issued  by  the  patent  office  for 
machines  and  processes  for  the  making  and  using  of  paper. 
These  figures  for  four  decades  do  not  indicate  any  remark¬ 
able  inclination  on  the  part  of  the  makers  of  paper  in  that 
period  rapidly  to  improve  upon  the  methods  of  working  in 
the  industry  even  after  conditions  had  been  materially  al¬ 
tered  by  the  new  machinery.  Aside  from  the  few  really 
big  and  important  additions  to  the  assortment  of  mill  appli¬ 
ances  little  was  brought  forward  or  even  attempted. 

However,  among  these  few  early  patentees  were  several 

^  The  Paper  Trade  Journal,  October  16,  1897,  pp.  17  and  67. 

’“See  p.  99,  ante. 


186 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  MACHINERY 


who  made  more  than  an  ordinary  impress  upon  the  indus¬ 
try  and  whose  achievements  call,  at  least,  for  a  cursory 
reference.  John  Ames,  of  Springfield,  Mass.,  was  easily 
first  in  respect  to  the  number  and  value  of  his  inventions. 
Notwithstanding  failure  fully  to  profit  from  his  cylinder 
machine  he  continued  to  devise  other  labor-saving  appli¬ 
ances,  altogether  for  use  in  his  mills.  He  patented  few  of 
his  inventions  but  depended  upon  keeping  their  existence 
secret ;  in  this  he  was  only  partially  successful  but  managed 
for  a  time  to  derive  the  greatest  advantage  from  them. 
Besides  the  cylinder,  patented  first  in  1822  and  afterward 
in  1832,  he  also  invented  a  process  for  preparing  and  dress¬ 
ing  pulp;  a  process  for  sizing  paper;  a  knife  for  cutting 
and  trimming,  and  a  process  for  drying. 

After  the  invention  and  improvement  of  the  cylinder, 
by  Gilpin,  Ames  and  others,  further  changes  and  improve¬ 
ments  in  paper-making  followed.  At  first  the  revolving 
mould  or  cylinder  was  turned  by  hand  in  the  vat,  and  the 
wet  web  of  paper  was  taken  off  by  an  endless  felt  running 
between  rollers  that  pressed  the  water  out,  leaving  the 
paper  sufficiently  strong  or  dry,  to  be  wound  upon  a  drum. 
When  a  thickness  of  four  or  five  inches  had  accumulated 
on  the  drum  this  was  cut  by  a  large  knife  or  saw  blade, 
and  then  divided  into  packs  of  sheets  of  the  desired  size. 
The  sheets  were  taken  to  the  loft  and  air-dried  as  those 
that  were  hand-made.  The  felt  used  with  the  machine 
was  continually  getting  filled  with  the  soft  pulp  so  that 
much  paper  was  spoiled.  At  the  end  of  a  few  hours’  run 
the  felt  had  to  be  removed  and  washed  which  made  trouble 
and  occasioned  loss  of  time. 

Altogether  the  process  was  still  slow  and  far  from  satis¬ 
factory,  although  in  results  better  than  anything  before 
known.  An  experiment  in  sprinkling  the  felt  with  water 
to  keep  it  a  little  more  clean  led  to  the  invention  of  the 
felt-washer  or  beater  and  soon  came  the  dryer  to  meet 
another  “long-felt  want.”  The  dryer,  designed  to  dry  the 
paper  in  the  web  or  the  continuous  sheet,  and  thus  do  away 
with  the  primitive  and  laborious  loft  drying,  was  an  iron 
cylinder,  generally  about  ten  feet  in  diameter;  in  this  was 
arranged  a  stove  heated  with  wood  fed  into  it  through  a 

187 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  UNITED  STATES 


door  in  the  cylinder.  After  this  came  the  steam  dryer,  the 
cylinder  washer  in  the  rag  engine,  the  machine  for  sizing 
paper  in  the  web,  size  rolls  for  sizing  paper  without  felt  or 
jackets,  the  lay-boy  for  taking  paper  from  the  machine,  and 
the  wet  lay-boy  for  handling  wet  paper. 

In  1830  Phelps  &  Spafford  of  Connecticut,  manufactur¬ 
ers  of  paper-making  machinery,  constructed  a  complete 
machine  with  making-cylinder,  press-rolls,  steam-drying 
cylinder,  reels  and  cutter,  connected,  so  that  at  last  it  was 
possible  for  the  paper-maker  to  take  in  the  pulp  at  one  end 
of  his  machine,  make  the  paper,  dry  it,  cut  it  into  sheets  of 
the  desired  size  and  turn  it  out  ready  for  finishing  or  pack¬ 
ing  at  the  other  end  of  the  machine.  All  this  had  been 
accomplished  in  this  country  while  the  Fourdrinier  ma¬ 
chine,  finally  more  famous,  was  being  experimented  with 
in  England  and  introduced  into  the  industry  abroad. 

Inventions  generally  during  this  period  ranged  over  a 
rather  narrow  field,  for  the  industry  had  not  yet  broadened 
much  in  its  aims  or  its  processes.  Principally  they  included 
the  original  cylinder  machines  and  improvements  upon 
them ;  methods  for  making  pulp  from  various  fibres ;  the 
sizing  and  cutting  paper;  moulds  and  other  minor  appli- 
treatment  of  rags;  machines  for  drying,  finishing,  pressing, 
ances.  As  has  already  been  pointed  out,  the  foremost 
inventors  were  Thomas  Gilpin  and  John  Ames.  Following 
close  after  those  two,  in  the  importance  of  ideas,  were 
Isaac  Sanderson  of  Milton,  Mass.,  with  an  improved 
cylinder ;  Henry  P.  Howe  of  Shirley,  Mass.,  with  a  drying 
machine;  and  William  Magaw,  with  a  process  of  making 
pulp  from  straw. 

Other  less  noted  patentees  were;  John  McClintic  and 
George  Faber,  Chambersburg,  Penn.;  Francis  B.  Howell, 
Lockport,  Ohio ;  John  Shugert,  Quincy,  Penn. ;  Edward 
Pine,  Troy,  N.  Y. ;  Jonas  Bateman,  Harvard,  Mass.;  John 
M.  Hollingsworth,  Braintree,  Mass. ;  Clarke  Rice,  Water- 
town,  N.  Y. ;  James  Sawyer,  Irah  White,  L.  Gale  and  Solo¬ 
mon  Stimpson,  Newburg,  Vt. ;  Peter  Force,  Washington, 
D.  C. ;  Hez[ekiah]  Steele,  Hudson,  N.  Y. ;  Francis 
Bailey,  Salisbury,  Penn. ;  Richard  Waterman  and  George 
W.  Annis,  Providence,  R.  I. ;  Thomas  Longstroth,  Bucks 


188 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  MACHINERY 


county,  Penn. ;  Charles  Kinsey,  Essex,  N.  J. ;  Isaac  Bur¬ 
bank  and  Gardiner  Burbank,  Worcester,  Mass. ;  Andrew 
Sprague  and  Nicholas  A.  Sprague,  Fredonia,  N.  Y. ;  Joseph 
Truman,  Bridgeport,  Penn.;  Charles  Forbes  and  William 
Debit,  East  Hartford,  Conn.;  Reuben  Farchild,  Trumbull, 
Conn.;  Burgiss  Allison,  John  Hawkins  and  Joseph  Condit. 
Jr.,  New  Jersey;  Thomas  Trench  and  Asahel  H.  Jervis, 
Ithaca,  N.  Y. ;  John  W.  Cooper,  Washington  township, 
Penn. ;  Elisha  H.  Collier,  Plymouth,  Mass. ;  Samuel  Green, 
Henry  Clark  and  William  Albertson,  New  London,  Conn. ; 
Mason  Hunting,  Waterbury,  Conn.;  Frederick  A.  Taft. 
Dedham,  Mass. ;  Phares  Barnard,  Whitestone,  N.  Y. ; 
George  Bird,  Walpole,  Mass. ;  William  Coolidge  and 
Michael  Morrison,  Boston;  Homer  Holland,  Westfield, 
Mass. ;  Edmund  Blake,  Alstead,  N.  H. ;  Joseph  Robeson, 
Montgomery,  Penn. ;  James  P.  Howland  and  Alfred 
Griswold,  Muncey,  Penn. ;  Joseph  Woodhouse,  Otsego, 
N.  Y. ;  Joseph  Hartshorne,  John  Reich,  Edward  Starr, 
Parke  Shee,  Jacob  Perkins,  Coleman  Sellers  and  Samuel 
Eckstein,  Philadelphia;  Benjamin  Mestayer,  Ephraim  F. 
Blank,  Thomas  Blank,  John  B.  Pignatelle  and  Marsden 
Haddock,  New  York;  Elihu  H.  Thomas,  Samuel  E. 
Foster  and  Nathan  Woodcock,  Brattleboro,  Vt. ;  Sidney 
A.  Sweet,  Tyringham,  Mass.;  Francis  Goucher,  Chester 
county,  Penn. ;  George  Carriel  and  Enoch  Burt,  Manches¬ 
ter,  Conn.;  Isaac  Fisher,  Jr.,  Springfield,  Vt. ;  Benjamin 
Cox,  Northampton,  Mass. ;  Robert  Carter,  Elkton,  Md. ; 
Moses  Y.  Beach  and  Abram  Frost,  Springfield,  Mass.^®^ 
During  the  forty-five  years  next  after  1838  there  was 
a  decided  quickening  of  the  inventive  impulse  in  the  paper¬ 
manufacturing  field.  Whereas  in  the  first  part  of  the 
century  only  eighty-eight  patents  had  been  taken  out,  an 
average  of  only  a  little  more  than  two  a  year,  there  were 
now  taken  out  one  thousand  and  seventy-three,  an  average 
of  more  than  thirty  a  year.  Of  this  number,  nine  hundred 
and  twenty-five  were  for  various  kinds  and  modifications 
of  machinery  and  for  methods  of  making  paper;  two  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty-four  were  for  machinery  and  methods  for 

Henry  L.  Ellsworth :  A  Digest  of  Patents  Issued  by  the  United 
States  front  lygo  to  January  i,  1839,  (1840),  pp.  112-114. 

189 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  f/ie UNITED  STATES 


treating  rags  and  making  pulp;  seventy-nine  were  for 
making  paper-bags ;  ninety-five  were  for  making  paper- 
collars,  and  sixty-six  for  making  paper-boxes.^*® 

The  old  mill-men  were  slow  in  approving  the  new  ma¬ 
chines,  long  clinging  tenaciously  to  the  hand  process.  In 
this  they  were  only  giving  another  exhibition  of  the  char¬ 
acteristic  antagonism  of  workers  in  all  times  against  the 
introduction  of  machinery  in  all  industries.  An  incident 
has  been  related  illustrating  this  aversion  to  the  new 
methods,  in  a  mill  where  cylinders  had  been  introduced. 
“Gears  had  been  ordered  to  admit  of  speeding  the  ma¬ 
chine  ten  feet  per  minute  faster,  on  hearing  which  the  old 
machine-tender,  who  was  short  and  fat,  expressed  him¬ 
self  by  stating  that  when  a  machine  was  run  faster  than 
a  man  could  walk  it  was  time  to  quit;  and  quit  he  did.” 

The  application  of  power  in  the  second  quarter  of  the 
century  and  the  gradual  introduction  of  the  paper-making 
machines  brought  about  decided  changes  in  the  industry. 
Before  that,  labor  was  high  and  consequently  the  cost  of 
production  was  excessive.  To  a  certain  extent  machin¬ 
ery  remedied  this.  The  Hollander,  the  cylinder  and  the 
Fourdrinier  were  improved  again  and  again  and  other 
mechanical  expedients,  simple  but  efficient,  were  devised. 
Especially  In  the  United  States  manufacturers  made  more 
progress  than  in  France  and  England,  in  the  practical 
utilization  of  the  new  machines  and  new  processes.  Turn¬ 
ing  attention  to  producing  the  best  qualities  of  paper 
they  were  soon  able  to  place  their  machine-made  paper 
in  successful  competition  with  the  foreign  hand-made. 

This  much  had  been  quite  surely  accomplished  by  the 
middle  of  the  century.  Nearly  all  the  mills,  particularly 
those  that  were  newly  built,  had  been  equipped  with  Hol¬ 
landers,  Fourdriniers  or  cylinders  and  other  machinery. 
Even  the  old  single-vat  mills  had  . come  into  line  and  there 
remained  few  of  importance  that  any  longer  made  pretense 
of  manufacturing  paper  by  hand. 

“•  M.  D.  Leggett :  Index  of  Patents  for  Inventions  Issued  by  the 
United  States  Patent  Office  from  i7go  to  187^,  Inclusive,  (1874). 


190 


CHAPTER  TEN 


A  CENTURY  AND  A  HALF  OF  GROWTH 

Feeling  the  Stimulus  of  the  New  Machinery — 
Tariff  Agitation — Mills  in  the  East  Grow  in 
Size  and  Importance — Beginning  the  Industry 
IN  Indiana  and  Other  States — Making  Straw- 
Paper  IN  Columbia  County,  New  York — Mill 
Statistics  from  the  Decennial  Census  of  1840 

By  the  time  that  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  cen¬ 
tury  had  passed,  there  were  signs  that  the  industry 
was  well  on  its  way  to  a  development  commensurate  with 
its  importance  to  the  general  interests  of  the  growing  na¬ 
tion.  New  machinery  and  changes  in  methods  of  manu¬ 
facture  and  in  materials  used,  comparatively  slight  though 
these  were  as  yet,  were  giving  a  considerable  impetus  to 
paper-making.  The  cylinder  machine  and  the  Fourdrinier, 
which  came  into  the  field  practically  together,  were  already 
in  the  way  of  producing  abundant  and  weighty  results; 
and  at  the  same  time  lesser  improvements  in  machinery 
and  methods  were  demonstrating  their  usefulness.  Testi¬ 
mony  of  a  paper-manufacturer  of  that  period  may  be  cited 
to  advantage  in  this  connection.  Writing  in  1850,  James 
M.  Willcox  of  the  Pennsylvania  Ivy  Mills  referred  to  the 
advance  that  had  been  made  in  his  time,  particularly  by 
the  introduction  of  machinery  and  various  improved 
methods.  Among  other  things  he  said: 

“The  interval  from  1830  to  1840,  was  important  for 
the  vast  improvements  made  in  the  manufacture,  by 
the  application  of  machinery,  and,  also,  by  the  intro¬ 
duction  of  the  use  of  chlorine  in  the  form  of  gas,  of 

191 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING UNITED  STATES 


chloride  of  lime,  and  the  alkalies,  lime  and  soda-ash 
in  bleaching,  cleansing,  and  discharging  the  colors 
from  calicoes,  worn-out  sail,  refuse  tarred-rope,  hemp, 
bagging,  and  cotton-waste,  the  refuse  of  the  cotton 
mills.  These  articles,  which  heretofore  had  been  con¬ 
sidered  only  applicable  for  the  manufacture  of  coarse 
wrapping  papers,  have,  through  the  application  of  this 
bleaching  and  cleansing  process,  entered  largely  into 
the  composition  of  news  and  coarse  printing  papers, 
and  consequently  have  risen  in  value  300  per  cent. 

“A  few  mills  possess  machinery,  and  adopt  a  process 
by  which  they  are  prepared  for  the  finest  printing  and 
letter  paper.  I  have  seen  a  beautiful  letter  paper  made 
of  cast  off  cable-rope.  Hemp-bagging  is  an  excellent 
material  for  giving  strength,  and  is  in  great  demand, 
especially  for  making  the  best  newspaper.  The  cost 
of  making  paper  by  machinery,  compared  with  that 
of  making  it  by  the  old  method,  (by  hand),  not  taking 
into  account  the  interest  on  cost,  and  repair  of  ma¬ 
chinery,  is  about  as  one  to  eight.  The  present  low 
price  resulting  from  improved  machinery ;  and  the  low 
price  of  printing  by  steam  power  has  placed  news¬ 
papers  and  books  in  the  hands  of  all ;  and  a  great  in¬ 
crease  of  production  has  followed  within  the  last  few 
years.” 

In  the  same  letter  Mr.  Willcox  spoke  of  the  gradual 
changes  in  the  distribution  of  the  industry  that  were  going 
on  under  his  observation  as  the  middle  of  the  century  was 
reached.  On  this  point  he  said : 

“There  has  been  a  greater  proportional  increase  of 
mills  in  the  middle  and  western  states  within  the  last 
ten  years  than  in  the  east.  Ten  years  ago  I  suppose 
80  per  cent,  of  the  supplies  for  Philadelphia,  came 
from  east  of  the  North  River;  at  present,  I  think  there 
does  not  come  20  per  cent.  Formerly,  a  much  greater 
quantity  was  sent  west  of  the  mountains,  and  large 
quantities  of  rags  brought  in  return.  In  consequence 
of  the  greater  number  of  mills  in  the  west,  particularly 
in  Ohio,  New  Orleans,  I  am  informed,  is  in  a  great 
measure  getting  supplies  there.  Formerly  they  all 
went  from  the  Atlantic  states. 

“From  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  the  quantity  of 
paper  imported  has  been  gradually  decreasing;  and 
before  the  revision  of  the  tariff  in  1846,  had  dwindled 


192 


A  CENTURY  AND  A  HALF  OF  GROWTH 


to  perhaps  not  more  than  2  per  cent,  of  the  amount 
consumed,  with  the  exception  of  wall  papers,  of  which 
large  quantities  were  imported  and  still  continue  to  be 
from  France.  Since  1846,  there  has  been  an  increase 
of  cheap  French  letter  paper,  but  the  amount  is  small 
compared  with  the  whole  amount  of  letter  paper  con¬ 
sumed — probably  not  more  than  3  per  cent.  There  is 
also  a  small  quantity  of  ledger  and  letter  paper  brought 
from  England ;  but  as  the  American  is  quite  equal  in 
quality,  the  importation  is  gradually  diminishing. 
Within  the  last  two  years,  great  ingenuity  has  been 
exercised  both  in  England  and  in  the  United  States, 
in  trying  to  make  a  paper  by  machinery,  to  resemble 
the  old  fashioned  hand  made  laid  paper,  (yet  preferred 
by  many.)  To  the  eye,  it  is  a  pretty  good  imitation, 
but  lacks  the  toughness,  firmness  and  surface  of  the 
hand  made.  By  an  experienced  judge,  the  deception 
is  easily  discovered.  Notwithstanding,  large  quantities 
have  been  used  under  the  supposition  that  they  were 
hande  made.” 

In  1828  the  newspapers  of  New  York  state  consumed 
annually  fifteen  thousand  reams  of  paper,  the  price  for 
which  was  from  four  to  five  dollars  a  ream.  All  the  news¬ 
papers  in  the  United  States  used  about  one  hundred  and 
four  thousand  reams,  valued  at  half  a  million  dollars.  This, 
although  not  the  only  source  of  increased  demand  upon 
the  mills,  was,  with  book  publishing,  quite  the  largest, 
and  to  meet  it  many  new  mills  came  into  existence  with 
machinery  and  other  improvements.  Expansion  of  indi¬ 
vidual  plants  at  increased  cost  naturally  followed.  Where 
before  it  was  possible  to  build  and  equip  a  fairly  good  mill 
for  $10,000  or  less,  an  investment  would  now  represent  at 
least  double,  triple  or  quadruple  that  amount  and  even 
more.  A  few  examples  are  worth  quoting.  They  are 
losses  or  costs  reported  upon  mills  that  were  burned  be¬ 
tween  1832  and  1850:  Wiswall  &  Flagg,  Exeter,  N.  H., 
1833,  $12,000;  Laflin,  Lee,  Mass.,  1833,  $20,000;  Lyons, 
Newton  Lower  Falls,  Mass.,  1834,  $50,000;  Brown,  Tower 
&  Co.,  Hampden,  Me.,  1835,  $20,000;  Peabody,  Daniel  & 
Co.,  Franklin,  N.  H.,  1837,  $20,000;  Carleton  &  Co.,  Shir- 

Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Patents  for  the  Year  1850, 
(1851),  p.  405. 


193 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in UNITED  STATES 


ley,  Mass.,  1837,  $25,000;  R.  L.  Underhill  &  Co.,  Urbana, 
N.  Y.,  1838,  $32,000;  A.  Bradley  &  Co.,  Dansville,  N.  Y., 
1838,  $20,000;  Phelps  &  Field,  Lee,  Mass.,  1840,  $20,000; 
Charles  Perham,  Groton,  Mass.,  1842,  $16,000;  Sharpless, 
Huskins  &  Wallace,  Fayette  county,  Penn.,  1844,  $20,000; 
Hollister,  Windsor  Locks,  Conn.,  1846,  $12,000.  These 
were  mills  of  ordinary  size  and  value.  Many  were  smaller 
and  comparatively  insignificant.  A  few  establishments, 
like  those  of  the  Gilpins  and  the  Ameses,  for  example,  went 
much  higher  in  value.^®’^ 

Greater  efficiency  also  resulted.  In  1831  The  New  York 
Journal  of  Commerce,  commenting  upon  these  improve¬ 
ments,  said  that  development  had  been  so  great  in  the 
preceding  five  years  that  it  now  used  on  its  presses  a  sheet 
of  paper  one-quarter  larger  than  before  and  costing  one- 
quarter  less.  As  years  passed  progress  was  more  and  more 
marked.  The  large  mills  steadily  increased  capacity  and 
in  every  way  adapted  their  methods  of  manufacturing  and 
supplying  the  market,  to  the  new  and  changing  business 
conditions.  In  1848  The  New  York  Journal  of  Commerce 
again  expressed  its  astonishment  at  what  was  happening 
in  the  paper  trade  : 

“We  were  informed  a  few  days  since,  by  a  large 
paper  dealer  in  New  York,  that  it  was  not  uncommon 
for  him  to  have  in  his  warehouse,  and  sell  at  nine 
o’clock  in  the  morning,  paper  which  was  in  rags  a 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  New  York  at  nine  o’clock 
of  the  previous  morning.  A  better  illustration  of  the 
power  of  steam  could  not  be  given,  or  of  the  progress 
of  the  age.  The  rags  are  placed  in  the  duster,  thence 
conveyed  to  the  troughs  or  vats,  where  (in  some  kinds 
of  paper)  the  sizing  is  mixed  with  the  pulp,  and  from 
these  vats  the  paper  passes  over  heated  rollers,  and 
finally  between  two  immensely  heavy  iron  rollers, 
which  give  it  the  glazed  surface,  and  it  is  then  cut, 
folded,  packed,  and  sent  to  the  railroad,  all  in  the 
course  of  a  few  hours.  The  telegraph  enables  New 
York  merchants  to  order  paper  in  Massachusetts  at 
any  moment,  and  receive  the  returns,  manufactured, 
and  even  ruled,  by  almost  the  next  steamer.’’^®* 


’"See  page  146,  ante. 

•"Freeman  Hunt:  The  Merchants  Magazine,  XIX.,  p.  342. 

194 


A  CENTURY  AND  A  HALF  OF  GROWTH 

In  the  tariff  agitation  which  prevailed  between  1825  and 
1860,  the  manufacturers  of  paper  did  not  take  conspicuous 
part.  Their  interests  were  overshadowed  by  those  of  other 
industries,  particularly,  iron,  cotton  and  wool.  They  made 
themselves  heard  however  and  were  represented  in  the 
various  conventions  of  the  time.  An  anti-tariff  convention 
was  held  in  Philadelphia,  September  30-October  7,  1831, 
about  two  hundred  delegates  being  present  from  fifteen 
states  in  the  union.  Resolutions  were  adopted  expressing 
opposition,  on  constitutional  grounds,  to  the  tariff  then  ex¬ 
isting,  as  far  as  it  was  designed  to  protect  manufactures. 
A  memorial  embodying  the  views  of  the  convention  was 
prepared  by  a  committee,  of  which  Albert  Gallatin  was 
chairman,  and  was  presented  to  congress,  in  the  senate, 
February  9,  1832.  In  connection  with  this  memorial  were 
various  “expositions  pertaining  to  different  manufacturing 
industries.”  Regarding  the  manufacture  of  paper  it  was 
stated : 

“The  duty  on  printing  paper,  not  sized,  is  ten  cents 
per  pound,  which  is  about  130  per  cent,  on  the  price 
in  France  and  Italy  of  that  quality  which  is  most  used 
here.  This  duty  operates  as  a  prohibition,  and  the 
price  of  the  domestic  article  is  probably  increased  by 
it,  from  5  to  7  cents  per  pound.  Thus  the  paper-mak¬ 
ers  have  a  monopoly,  which  is  uncompensated  by  the 
publishers,  and  by  checking  the  increase  of  production, 
is  collaterally  burthensome  to  the  printers  and  book¬ 
binders. 

“The  duty  on  paper,  which  is  10  cents  per  lb.  on 
unsized,  and  17  cents  per  lb.  sized,  might  be  consider¬ 
ably  reduced  without  injury  to  the  makers,  for  the 
price  is  not  raised  by  the  whole  amount  of  the  duty; 
and  they  would  be  compensated  by  a  great  increase  of 
demand;  and  they  are  protected  by  their  raw  material, 
rags,  being  duty  free.”^*® 

In  the  same  year,  .a  month  later,  October  26,  the  sup¬ 
porters  of  the  protective  tariff  met  in  New  York  in  a 
Convention  of  the  Friends  of  Domestic  Industry  to  con- 

The.  New  York  Evering  Post,  October  1-10,  1833.  Duff  Green: 
Public  Documents,  Senate  of  the  United  States,  jst  Sess.,  23d  Cons. 
(1832),  I.,  Doc.  55. 


195 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


sider  measures  “for  the  support  and  further  extension  of 
the  American  system  as  involved  in  the  protection  of  do¬ 
mestic  industry.”  Delegates  to  the  number  of  five  hun¬ 
dred  and  twenty-five  were  in  attendance  from  thirteen 
states  and  the  District  of  Columbia.  A  committee  ap¬ 
pointed  to  consider  the  subject  of  the  production  of  paper 
consisted  of  Jonathan  Seymour  and  Hector  Craig,  of  New 
York;  Charles  Stearns,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Augustus 
Greek :  it  does  not  appear  that  this  committee  made  any 
■report.  A  memorial  from  the  permanent  committee  of 
'the  convention  was  presented  to  the  national  house  of 
representatives  in  January,  1833.^®® 

Following  the  beginning  in  Berkshire  county.  Mass., 
other  mills  were  built  in  Lee,  soon  after  1826,  by  Walter, 
Winthrop  and  Cutler  Laflin  and  Stephen  Thatcher.  Be¬ 
sides  these,  numerous  other  manufacturers  came  in.  To 
catalogue  all  of  them  and  record  in  detail  their  business 
activities  would  fill  a  goodly-sized  volume.  Prominent,  in 
addition  to  those  already  spoken  of  on  preceding  pages, 
were  John  Bottomley,  Harrison  Smith,  Sylvester  S.  May, 
Jared  Ingersoll,  Joseph  Bassett,  Thomas  Sedgwick, 
Joseph  B.  Allen,  David  S.  May,  E.  S.  May,  George  Wil¬ 
son,  C.  C.  Benton,  P.  C.  Baird,  Harrison  Garfield,  Thomas 
Owen,  Henry  C.  Hurlbut,  S.  S.  Rogers  and  others  in 
Lee ;  Wheeler  &  Gibson,  John  Carroll,  Beach  &  Adams 
and  others  in  New  Marlboro;  B.  B.  Doten,  and  A.  A. 
Mansfield  in  Sheffield;  Riley  Sweet,  Asa  Judd,  George 
W.  Platner,  Elizur  Smith,  Ezra  Heath  and  Joshua  Bass 
in  Tyringham ;  L.  L.  Brown,  William  Jenks  and  Daniel 
Jenks  in  South  Adams;  the  Cranes,  the  Chamberlins,  the 
Carsons  and  others  in  Dalton.  The  mills  built,  burned 
and  rebuilt  in  this  region,  during  this  half  century  and  a 
little  more,  were  over  forty  in  number. 

One  of  the  Berkshire  mills,  which  became  famous  in 
the  annals  of  the  business,  was  the  Columbia  built  by  the 
Laflins  in  Lee  in  1826,  their  second  mill.  In  its  early 

’“’Hezekiah  Niles,  Secretary:  Journal  of  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Friends  of  Domestic  Industry,  (1831).  Duff  Green:  Executive 
Documents,  House  of  Representatives,  ed  Sess.,  zed  Cong.  (1832), 
II.,  Doc.  78. 


196 


A  CENTURY  AND  A  HALF  OF  GROWTH 


career  it  had  several  owners  and  operators,  conspicuous 
among  whom  were  George  N.  Phelps  and  Marshall  Field. 
The  junior  member  of  this  firm  was  in  much  later  time 
the  great  Chicago  merchant  and  philanthropist.  A 
younger  brother  of  Field — Cyrus  W.  Field — worked  in 
this  mill  as  a  boy.  Afterward,  from  about  1840,  he  was 
a  dealer  in  paper  in  New  York  city  and  there  acquired  a 
reputation  of  being  one  of  the  shrewdest  men  in  the  trade. 
Identification  of  his  name  with  the  first  Atlantic  telegraph 
cables  has  quite  eclipsed  recollection  of  him  as  a  paper- 
maker  and  paper-dealer. 

Charles  M.  Owen  and  Thomas  Hurlbut  who,  in  1822, 
acquired  the  Church  mill  in  Lee,  soon  attained  a  leading 
position  among  the  Berkshire  manufacturers.  They  se¬ 
cured  control  of  the  entire  Housatonic  water  power  and 
went  in  for  factory  improvements,  setting  up  a  cylinder 
in  1833,  a  calender  in  1834  and  a  ruling  machine  in  1836. 
Then  they  built  another  mill  in  Housatonic.  In  1860  the 
firm  was  dissolved  by  mutual  consent.  Owen  kept  the 
Housatonic  property  and  Hurlbut  the  mills  in  South  Lee. 
Both  took  their  sons  into  partnership  and  thus  the  Owen 
Paper  Company  of  Housatonic  and  the  Hurlbut  Paper 
Company  of  Lee  came  into  existence.  Hurlbut  died  in 
1861  and  Owen  in  1870.^®^ 

Toward  the  middle  of  the  century  Newton  Lower  Falls 
developed  into  the  notable  paper-manufacturing  center  of 
eastern  Massachusetts.  Among  the  leading  owners  and 
operators  there  were  William  Hurd,  Amos  Lyon  &  Co., 
William  Parker,  Joseph  Foster,  Moses  Garfield,  Lemuel 
Crehore,  William  Curtis,  Amasa  Fuller,  Joseph  H.  Foster, 
Thomas  Rice,  Charles  Rice  and  John  Rice.  One  mill, 
which  was  built  soon  after  1800  by  William  Hoogs,  had 
the  record  of  passing  successively  through  the  hands  of 
nearly  all  those  paper-men  until  it  finally  became  the 
property  of  Augustus  C.  Wiswall  &  Son  by  whom  it  was 
operated  in  the  closing  years  of  the  century  to  the  time 
of  its  demise. 

Earliest  among  the  paper-makers  of  Newton  Lower 

C.  M.  Hyde;  Centennial  History  of  the  Town  of  Lee,  Mass., 
(1878),  p.  294. 


197 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  theVNlTED  STA'l  ES 


Falls  were  Simon  Elliot,  and  Solomon  Curtis.  Allen  C., 
and  William  Curtis,  sons  of  Solomon  Curtis,  acquired 
the  Curtis  and  Elliot  mills  in  1834  and,  with  new  build- 


Lemuel  Crehore. 

Founder  of  the  Crehore  Paper-Mill  Interests  in  Eastern  Massachusetts. 

ings,  modern  machinery  and  other  improvements,  con¬ 
tinued  business  until  toward  the  end  of  the  century. 

The  Crehore  family  interests  in  paper-making  in  New¬ 
ton  Lower  Falls  began  in  1825  when  Lemuel  Crehore, 
who  had  learned  the  trade  in  the  old  Milton  mill,  estab- 


198 


A  CENTURY  AND  A  HALF  OF  GROWTH 


lished  himself  in  business  with  William  Hurd.  Mr. 
Crehore,  in  1834,  purchased  the  John  Ware  paper-mill  of 
1789  and,  with  partners  or  alone,  maintained  the  business 
for  twenty  years.  As  he  advanced  in  life  he  associated 
with  him  his  sons,  George  C.  and  Charles  F.  Crehore. 
He  died  in  1868.  In  the  third  generation  the  business 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Frederic  M.  Crehore,  son  of 
Charles  F.  Crehore,  continuing  in  name  as  Charles  F. 
Crehore  &  Son.  From  the  start  the  Crehore  mills  made 
a  specialty  of  press  board  and  jacquard  cards. 

Another  family  of  paper-makers  conspicuous  in  New¬ 
ton  for  three-quarters  of  a  century  was  that  of  Rice.  Be¬ 
fore  1800  Thomas  Rice  was  a  paper-maker  in  Needham. 
About  1810  he  moved  to  Newton  Lower  Falls,  where  he 
owned  a  mill  in  which  his  son,  Thomas  Rice,  Jr.,  learned 
the  trade.  The  second  Thomas  Rice  became  an  eminent 
manufacturer,  controlled  many  extensive  business  inter¬ 
ests  and  was  active  in  public  affairs.  He  died  in  1873. 
Associated  with  him  in  paper-manufacturing  was  his 
brother  Alexander  H.  Rice,  mayor,  congressman,  governor 
of  the  state  and  otherwise  prominent.  The  Rice  mills,  on 
the  Wellesley  shore  of  the  Charles  river,  were  originally 
owned  by  Wm.  Hurd,  Rice  &  Garfield  and  Amos  Lyon. 

In  1829  there  were  sixty  mills  in  Massachusetts,  only 
six  of  which  used  machinery.  About  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  tons  of  rags  were  consumed,  annually,  pro¬ 
ducing  paper  to  the  value  of  $700,000.  No  gathering  of 
statistics  concerning  the  manufactures  of  the  state  was 
systematically  undertaken  until  eight  years  later.  In  1837 
the  general  court  of  Massachusetts  directed  the  assessors 
in  the  towns  of  the  commonwealth  to  return  to  the  secre¬ 
tary  of  state  information  in  regard  to  the  various  branches 
of  industry  in  the  state.  The  secretary  of  state  made  a 
report,  which  was  published  in  1838. 

In  this  report  the  returns  for  paper-manufacturing 
showed  that  then  there  were  in  operation  in  the  state 
eighty-nine  mills,  located  as  follows :  twelve  in  Lee,  six 

D.  Hamilton  Hurd:  History  of  Middlesex  County,  Mass., 
(■1890),  III.,  102. 


199 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  UNITED  STATES 


in  Needham,  five  each  in  Newton  and  Leominster,  four 
each  in  Springfield  and  Milton,  three  each  in  Dedham, 
Peppered,  Harvard  and  South  Hadley ;  two  each  in 
Braintree,  Dorchester,  Walpole,  Swanzey,  Methuen, 
Framingham,  Shirley,  Watertown,  Fitchburg,  Hardwick, 
Worcester,  Amherst  and  Dalton ;  one  each  in  Middleton, 
Groton,  Sudbury,  Waltham,  Athol,  Auburn,  Millbury, 
Northampton,  Blandford,  New  Marlborough,  Tyringham, 


Thomas  Rice,  Jr. 

Identified  with  the  Industry  in  Eastern  Massachusetts. 

Fairhaven,  Taunton,  Bridgewater  and  Wareham.  The 
total  amount  of  capital  invested  was  $1,167,700,  the  num¬ 
ber  of  employees  were  five  hundred  and  sixty-eight  males 
and  six  hundred  and  five  females,  and  the  annual  product 
was  nine  thousand  and  nineteen  tons  of  paper  valued  at 
$1,544,230. 

This  list  of  towns  is  more  than  locally  interesting  in 
many  respects.  Particularly  it  was  broadly  typical  of  the 
status  of  the  trade  in  other  states  where  paper-manufac- 


200 


A  CENTURY  AND  A  HALF  OF  GROWTH 


turing  had  gradually  grown  from  narrow,  tentative  exist¬ 
ence  into  a  condition  of  industrial  importance.  The  wide 
distribution  of  the  mills  throughout  the  state  is  noticeable. 
Transportation  of  raw  material  from  sources  of  supply, 
and  of  manufactured  stock  to  the  markets,  was  still  a 
serious  problem  which  railroads  had  not  yet  come  to  solve. 
Consequently  the  mills  were  compelled  to  be  mostly  local, 
wherever  good  water-power  could  be  found. 

Concentration  in  situations  specially  advantageous  to 
the  prosecution  of  work  had  only  begun  to  set  in.  The 
first  indication  of  that  was  to  be  seen  in  the  grouping  of 
twelve  mills  in  Lee,  two  in  Dalton,  four  in  Springfield 
and  three  in  South  Hadley,  thus  making  a  paper-manu¬ 
facturing  center  in  western  Massachusetts;  and  also  in 
the  grouping  of  six  mills  in  Needham,  four  in  Milton, 
five  in  Newton,  three  in  Dedham,  two  in  Dorchester,  two 
in  Walpole,  two  in  Braintree  and  two  in  Watertown,  an¬ 
other  center  about  Boston  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  state. 
There  was  another  group  of  seventeen  mills  in  the  central 
part  of  the  state. 

In  1845  another  similar  industrial  census  was  taken  in 
Massachusetts  under  the  direction  of  the  secretary  of  the 
commonwealth,  the  enumeration  being  made  by  the  as¬ 
sessors  of  the  cities  and  towns.  The  work  was  accom¬ 
plished  with  a  fair  degree  of  thoroughness  and  accuracy 
and  all  things  considered  was  as  satisfactory  as  could 
reasonably  be  expected,  although  the  final  report  made 
the  qualification  that:  “It  is  probable  that  the  statements 
are  far  from  presenting  a  complete  view  of  the  industry 
of  the  commonwealth.’’  From  this  report  it  appeared 
that  there  were  then  in  the  state,  eighty-nine  paper-mills, 
twenty  being  in  Norfolk  county,  twenty  in  Berkshire, 
eighteen  in  Middlesex  and  eleven  in  Worcester.  From 
this  it  can  be  seen  that  the  localities  where  the  industry 
had  been  first  established  still  maintained  their  predom¬ 
inance  and  that  Berkshire  where  paper-making  had  been 
last  begun,  in  1801,  had  overtaken  Norfolk  where  it  was 
first  begun  in  1728.  In  all  the  mills  of  the  state  one 
thousand  three  hundred  and  sixty-nine  persons  were  em¬ 
ployed;  $1,144,537  of  capital  were  invested;  15,886  tons 


201 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  UNITED  STATES 


of  stock  were  annually  consumed ;  607,175  reams  of  pa¬ 
per,  valued  at  $1,750,273,  were  annually  produced.^** 

Connecticut  still  held  its  position  as  a  leading  paper- 
manufacturing  state,  ranking  fourth  in  the  amount  of 
annual  production,  by  the  census  of  1840.  Most  of  the 
printing- paper  was  used  by  the  newspapers  of  the  state 
and  by  the  publishers  of  books  in  Hartford.  Then  Hart¬ 
ford  was  a  publishing  center,  being  surpassed  only  by 
New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Boston.  Considerable  of 
the  paper-making  was  concentrated  in  Hartford  county, 
especially  in  and  about  the  town  of  Manchester,  on  the 
Hockanum  river. 

In  a  little  Manchester  settlement  called  Union  village, 
Butler  &  Hudson  erected  a  mill  before  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century  and  about  1838  this  came  into  the 
possession  of  Increase  Clapp,  Timothy  Keeney,  James  B. 
Wood  and  Sandford  Buckland,  partners  under  the  name 
of  Clapp,  Keeney  &  Co.  Paper  shavings  were  used  in 
the  manufacture  of  paper,  the  stock  being  taken  from  the 
book-binderies  in  New  York.  In  1850,  upon  the  death 
of  Mr.  Clapp,  the  Keeney  &  Wood  Manufacturing  Com¬ 
pany  succeeded  to  the  business.  Also  in  Manchester,  in 
the  village  of  Oakland,  Henry  Hudson  converted  an  old 
grist-mill  into  a  paper-mill  that  was  managed  for  thirty 
years  by  the  Hudsons — Henry,  Melancthon,  his  son,  and 
William  and  Philip  W.,  sons  of  Melancthon.  For  many 
years  the  mill  was  run  on  contracts  with  the  United 
States.  Subsequently  the  Cheney  Brothers — ^better-known 
as  manufacturers  of  silk — came  into  possession  of  the 
property  and  they  rebuilt  the  mill  and  improved  the  plant. 
After  1878  the  mill  was  owned  by  the  Hurlburt  Manufac¬ 
turing  Company,  operating  there  as  the  Oakland  Paper 
Company.^®^ 

Peter  Rogers  and  his  son,  Henry  E.  Rogers,  were 
prominent  in  the  industry  for  a  half  century.  The  father 

“’John  G.  Palfrey,  Secretary:  Statistics  of  the  Condition  and 
Products  of  Certain  Branches  of  Industry  in  Massachusetts,  for  the 
Year  Ending  April  1,  1845,  (1^6). 

“*J.  Hammond  Trumbull:  Memorial  History  of  Hartford 
County,  (1886),  II.,  256. 


202 


A  CENTURY  AND  A  HALF  OF  GROWTH 


was  a  partner  in  the  Buckland  mill  in  1825  and  after  1832 
had  a  mill  solely  his  own  where  he  made  press-boards 
and  binders-boards.  His  son  built  a  new  mill  in  1849 
with  a  capacity  of  one  and  a  half  tons  per  day  and  it  has 
been  asserted  that  he  was  the  first  to  use  old  printed  pa¬ 
per  for  stock,  having  a  process  for  extracting  the  ink. 

Humphreysville,  in  Seymour,  did  not  long  hold  the  po¬ 
sition  that  had  been  given  to  it  by  the  mill  started  by 
General  David  Humphrey  in  1801,  although  several  mills 
of  note  were  there.  Six  or  eight  mills  were  built,  burned 
and  rebuilt  between  1825  and  1850  and  the  principal 
operators  were  Gilbert,  Beach  and  Co.,  Lewis  Bunce, 
the  Rimmon  Paper  Company,  De  Forest  &  Hodge, 
Smith  &  Bassett,  John  S.  Moshier,  Daniel  White,  John 
C.  Wheeler  and  Sylvester  Smith.  In  the  mill  built  for 
John  S.  Moshier  in  1831  the  first  straw  paper  made  in 
Connecticut  was  produced  in  1837  when  Smith  &  Bassett 
were  operating  it  on  lease. 

For  fully  fifty  years  Columbia  county  in  New  York 
state  was  noted  for  making  paper  from  straw.  Before 
1825  there  had  been  mills  in  this  region,  small  affairs 
making  paper  of  the  regulation  kind  and  in  the  regula¬ 
tion  manner.  In  1830  two  paper-makers — Hamilton  and 
Wright — came  from  Connecticut  to  Chatham  Four  Cor¬ 
ners.  They  brought  with  them  knowledge  of  the  work¬ 
ings  of  the  new  cylinder  and  plans  of  the  machine  which 
they  had  surreptitiously  obtained.  Purchasing  a  site  on 
the  banks  of  the  Steinkill  where  Eleazer  Cady,  with  one 
small  beating-engine,  had  been  making  paper  by  the  hand 
process  for  several  years,  there  they  built  a  machine  and 
were  the  pioneers  on  straw  wrapping-paper  in  that  sec¬ 
tion  of  the  country.  In  1832  the  partners  separated, 
Hamilton  retaining  the  mill  while  Wright  started  a  sec¬ 
ond  establishment  with  a  cylinder,  in  an  old  saw-mill  plant 
on  the  same  stream.  During  subsequent  years  this  prop¬ 
erty  passed  successively  through  the  hands  of  Cornelius 
Shufelt,  Rathbone  &  Simmons  and  Staats  D.  Tompkins. 

A  third  mill  for  straw  paper  was  erected  by  Ebenezer 
Backus  and  Thomas  Wheeler  not  far  from  the  first  Ham¬ 
ilton  &  Wright  mill.  It  was  locally  known  as  “the  mud- 

203 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in UNITED  STATES 


mill”  on  account  of  the  generally  dirty  condition  of  the 
water  of  the  brook  from  which  its  supply  was  drawn. 
William  Davis  and  Plato  B.  Moore  purchased,  in  1837, 
an  old  fulling-mill  on  the  Steinkill,  between  Chatham  and 
Chatham  Four  Corners  and  started  there  the  fourth  mill 
in  the  county.  About  a  year  later  Phillip  Winnegar  and 
Plato  B.  Moore  built  a  mill  near  Queechy  lake. 

These  four  mills  were  the  pioneers  in  the  making  of 
paper  from  straw,  in  this  county.  Rye  straw  for  stock 
came  from  the  farms  around  about  and  was  abundant 
and  cheap.  The  paper  was  not  exclusively  straw,  about 
twenty  per  cent,  hard  stock — rope  and  bagging — being 
used  to  make  the  sheet  run  good.  The  mills  of  Wright 
and  of  Backus  &  Wheeler  had  fire-dryers,  being  the  first 
straw  mills  in  which  paper  was  not  loft-dried. 

Presently  the  making  of  paper  from  straw  flowed  over 
the  border  line  of  Columbia  into  Rensselaer  county.  In 
1845  John  B.  Davis  purchased  a  site  for  a  mill  on  Kinder- 
hook  creek,  in  the  town  of  Nassau,  and  in  the  following 
year,  associated  with  Peter  C.  Tompkins,  he  built  the 
first  mill  for  making  straw  wrapping  in  that  county.  It 
was  the  largest  mill  that  had  yet  started  on  straw,  planned 
for  four  thirty-inch  Hollanders  and  a  thirty-six  inch  cyl¬ 
inder.  With  two  engines  and  a  drying-loft,  in  the  be¬ 
ginning,  after  a  few  years  the  mill  had  other  engines,  a 
forty-inch  cylinder  and  steam-dryers.  It  had  two  large 
square  bleach  vats  whereas  prior  to  this  date  the  mills  of 
Columbia  had  only  one.  Eventually  Tompkins  sold  his 
interest  in  this  mill  and  the  business  was  continued  by 
D.  P.,  C.  F.,  and  Oscar  Davis,  sons  of  John  B.  Davis. 

Upon  relinquishing  his  interests  in  Rensselaer,  Peter 
C  Tompkins  returned  to  Columbia  where  he  took  pos¬ 
session  of  and  completed  a  new  mill  that  his  brother, 
Staats  D.  Tompkins,  was  building  on  the  Steinkill  near 
East  Chatham.  He  ran  that  successfully  for  many  years 
and  was  the  first  manufacturer  to  make  wrapping  ex¬ 
clusively  from  straw  without  hard  stock. 

^'"Columbia  County  at  the  End  of  the  Century,  (1900).  Franklin 
Ellis:  History  of  Columbia  County,  New  York,  (1878).  The  Paper 
Trade  Journal,  October  16,  1897,  pp.  84-88-90. 


204 


A  CENTURY  AND  A  HALF  OF  GROWTH 


The  Ivy  Mills  of  the  Willcox  family  in  Chester,  Penn., 
were  still  at  the  height  of  their  prosperity  at  this  time, 
more  than  one  hundred  years  from  their  beginning,  and 
in  every  way  they  still  ranked  among  the  leading  estab¬ 
lishments  of  the  country.  On  preceding  pages^®®  refer¬ 
ence  has  been  made  to  the  succession  of  ownership  after 
.1800.  Joseph  Willcox,  son  of  Mark  Willcox  and  grand¬ 


son  of  Thomas  Willcox  who  built  the  mill  in  1728,  came 
into  the  business  in  1808  and  his  brother,  John  Willcox, 
joined  him  in  1815.  Another  brother,  James  M.  Willcox, 
became  manager  of  the  mill  in  1826  upon  the  death  of 
his  brother,  and  inherited  the  property  in  1827  when  his 
father  died.  After  the  death  of  James  M.  Willcox,  in 


See  page  13,  ante. 


205 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  mf/ie  UNITED  STATES 


1854,  the  mill  was  run  by  his  sons,  Mark,  James  M.  and 
Joseph  Willcox,  under  the  firm  name  of  J.  M.  Willcox 
&  Sons,  until  1859.  Then  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  a 
younger  son,  Henry  B.  Willcox,  who  continued  to  operate 
it  until  1866  when  the  business  of  hand-made  paper  was 
abandoned.  For  nearly  one  hundred  years  and  in  the 
possession  of  three  generations  of  the  Willcox  name,  the 
Ivy  Mills  were  mostly  devoted  to  the  manufacture  of 
hand-made  bank-note  paper,  and  in  this  they  were  pre¬ 
eminently  distinguished.  The  record  is  remarkable  and 
has  not  been  surpassed,  even  if  rivalled,  by  any  other 
concern  in  the  industry. 

In  1829  the  old  mill,  which  had  been  running  one  hun¬ 
dred  years  without  interruption,  was  torn  down  to  make 
way  for  another  building  on  the  same  site.  Two  other 
buildings  were  added  at  Glen  Mills,  two  and  one-half 
miles  from  Ivy  Mills,  one  in  1837  and  the  other  in  1845. 
In  both  these,  machine-made  paper  was  produced.  Dur¬ 
ing  the  first  year  of  the  civil  war  the  demand  from  the 
United  States  government  for  bank-note  paper  was  so 
large  that  the  facilities  of  the  “hand-made”  mill  were 
overtaxed  and  much  of  the  paper  was  machine-made  in 
the  two  mills  that  had  been  last  built.  The  Glen  mill  was 
in  operation  into  the  twentieth  century  but  no  longer  by 
those  of  the  Willcox  name. 

Paper-making  in  Indiana  was  begun  by  Isaac  Mooney 
ill  1826.  Mooney,  who  had  been  employed  in  paper-mills 
on  the  Little  Miami  river  in  Ohio,  went  to  Indiana  and 
there  erected  a  two-vat  mill,  the  first  in  the  state,  on  the 
Big  creek,  about  twelve  miles  north  of  Madison.  Within 
a  year  Mooney  died,  a  suicide,  and  his  mill  was  bought  by 
Alfred  McDaniels  who  had  a  paper-warehouse  in  Cin¬ 
cinnati  and  was  also  selling  agent  for  Kugler  of  Milford 
and  Phillips  &  Spear  of  Cincinnati.  McDaniels,  after  a 
short  time,  sold  the  mill  to  Hezekiah  Stout  who  converted 
the  plant  into  a  grist-mill,  that  being  the  end  of  the  first 
attempt  to  start  the  manufacturing  in  the  Hoosier  state. 

In  1827  a  second  two-vat  mill  was  built,  by  John 
Sheets,  a  native  of  Virginia,  who  had  been  living  in  War¬ 
ren  county,  Ohio.  This  was  located  on  Indian  Kentuck 


206 


A  CENTURY  AND  A  HALF  OF  GROWTH 


creek,  seven  miles  east  of  Madison.  In  1832  a  machine 
was  put  in  and  the  first  air-dried  binders’  boards  in  In¬ 
diana  were  made.  Later,  this  also  became  a  grist  mill. 

Leeds,  Jones  &  Bissell  built  a  one-vat  mill  in  Richmond, 
Ind.,  in  1831.  The  mill  had  a  single  one  hundred  ana 
twenty-five  pound  beating-engine  and  within  ten  years 
another  vat,  a  second  engine,  a  wet-machine  and  a  fire- 
dryer  increased  the  plant.  These  additions  indicated 
the  general  character  of  the  gradual  improvements  in  all 
the  small  mills  of  the  western  country  in  this  period.  In 

1837  the  business  of  this  mill  was  incorporated  and,  in 
the  possession  of  various  owners,  among  whom  were  J. 
R.  Mendenhall,  Thomas  Newman,  and  Charles  Nixon,  it 
existed  until  after  the  middle  of  the  century. 

Another  mill  in  Indiana  was  built  between  1835  and 
1840,  near  Madison,  by  James  Hamilton  and  Henry  Jack- 
man.  For  three  years  only  it  was  operated  on  wrapping- 
paper  and  then  was  abandoned.  Other  mills  of  Indiana 
in  this  second  quarter  of  the  century  were :  the  Spier  in 
Brookville,  Franklin  county,  which  was  equipped  with 
machinery  brought  from  Cincinnati  in  1834;  that  of 
William  Sheets  and  Daniel  Tondes  in  Indianapolis,  from 

1838  to  1866,  the  machinery  finally  being  removed  to 
Illinois;  that  of  Daniel  Tondes  in  Lafayette,  in  1841, 
which  survived  under  other  owners,  Wilson,  Hanna  and 
Barber,  until  1874,  being  run  on  writing,  print  and  wrap¬ 
ping;  that  of  Hanna  &  Wilson,  which  made  print  and 
wrapping  until  it  was  burned  in  1857 ;  a  second  mill 
erected  in  Indianapolis  by  Thomas  McIntyre  and  Jere¬ 
miah  McLane,  two  partners,  whose  special  qualifications 
for  making  paper  seemed  to  be  that  one — McIntyre — was 
superintendent  of  a  deaf  and  dumb  asylum  while  the 
other — McLane — was  a  silver-smith. 

Several  other  mill  enterprises  in  Indiana  dated  from 
the  mid-century.  For  about  twenty  years,  Rhinehart  & 
Robertson,  Rhinehart  &  Wood  and  Rhinehart  &  Bowen 
successively  operated  the  first  mill  in  Delphi,  built  by 
George  Robertson  in  1846,  burned  in  1849  and  rebuilt  in 
1851.  The  mill  was  run  mainly  on  wrapping  and  news. 
Another  mill  in  Delphi  was  built  in  1853  by  Robertson 

207 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  m  UNITED  STATES 


&  Wood.  In  1859  Beckett  &  Gridley  built  the  third  mill 
in  Delphi,  equipping  it  with  four  engines  and  a  sixty-two 
inch  double  cylinder.  Both  owners  were  spiritualists,  and 
it  has  been  said  that  while  the  mill  was  under  construc¬ 
tion  they  held  nightly  seances  and  were  instructed  by 
ghostly  advisers  in  the  work  of  building  and  setting  up 
the  plant.  But  their  familiars  appear  to  have  been  evil 
spirits  for  the  mill  was  a  failure  from  the  start  and  within 
a  year  was  burned. 

The  first  mill  in  Logansport  was  built  in  1857  by  Will¬ 
iam  Archer  &  Son  and  was  operated,  first  by  the  Archers 
and  then  by  James  L.  Baldwin,  until  1868  when  it  was 
dismantled  and  the  building  transformed  into  a  distillery. 
A  second  mill  near  Logansport  was  owned  and  operated 
by  Eldridge  and  Bachman.  The  first  mill  in  Elkhart  was 
built  in  1850  by  E.  R.  &  C.  Beardsley.  It  was  located  on 
Christiana  creek  and  had  a  fifty-six  inch  cylinder.  Six 
or  seven  years  later  another  mill  was  added  under  the 
same  roof.  Later,  a  sixty-two  inch  machine  was  put  in 
for  the  purpose  of  running  on  print-paper,  the  other  ma¬ 
chine  being  used  exclusively  on  wrappings.  The  mills 
were  the  foundation  of  the  Elkhart  Paper  Company  which 
became  the  owners  in  1868  and  enlarged  and  improved 
the  plant. 

A  pioneer  Methodist  preacher  named  Lamden  founded 
the  industry  in  West  Virginia.  He  was  proprietor  of  a 
paper-mill  built  in  Wheeling,  on  the  Ohio  river,  in  1830. 
His  son,  Christopher  Lamden,  had  learned  the  trade  of 
paper-making  by  hand  in  the  old  mill  in  Steubenville, 
Ohio,  and  by  machine  in  Massachusetts.  The  Wheeling 
mill  was  equipped  with  a  machine.  The  Lamdens  made 
tea  and  wrapping-paper  and  found  a  ready  market  for 
their  goods.  In  1835  the  mill  was  burned  but  it  was  re¬ 
built  in  the  following  year  and  was  then  known  as  the 
Virginia  mill.  Afterwards  it  passed  into  other  hands  and 
made  bonnet  boards  and  wrapping-paper. 

In  1832  the  Fulton  mill  was  built  by  Alexander  Arm¬ 
strong,  Archibald  Fisher,  Joseph  Morrison  and  Frederick 

“^The  Paper  Trade  Journal,  October  16,  1897,  p.  104. 


208 


A  CENTURY  AND  A  HALF  OF  GROWTH 


Trendley,  the  last  named  being  the  practical  paper-maker 
and  the  superintendent.  During  the  next  twenty-five 
years  or  more  the  mill  passed  through  several  hands, 
among  its  successive  owners  being  R.  Crowl,  the  Arm¬ 
strong  brothers,  Levis,  Little  &  Co.  and  Spence  &  Hanna. 
At  the  height  of  its  activity,  it  was  run  on  both  fine  and 
printing  papers,  its  daily  capacity  being  about  one  thou¬ 
sand  five  hundred  pounds  of  news. 

Early  efforts  to  start  paper-making  in  Kentucky  were 
not  pre-eminently  successful  and  the  industry  in  that  state 
had  a  very  precarious  existence.^®®  After  the  first  mill 
in  Louisville,  in  1814,  a  second  in  that  city  was  started 
about  1830  or  1832  and  had  a  brief  and  inglorious  career. 
Originally  it  was  a  saw-mill  located  in  the  woods  adjoin¬ 
ing  the  town,  and  when  all  the  trees  which  could  be  cut 
for  lumber  were  used,  Bainbridge  &  Syler,  the  proprietors, 
changed  their  saw-mill  into  a  paper-mill.  It  ran  for  about 
three  years  and  was  then  burned.  The  third  mill  in 
Louisville,  built  about  1836,  was  operated  by  Nixon  & 
Kellogg  and  was  subsequently  purchased  by  the  owner 
of  The  Louisville  Advertiser.  Later  it  became  the  prop¬ 
erty  of  Prentice  &  Co. ;  in  1840  it  was  rebuilt  at  a  cost 
of  $9,000,  but  a  few  years  later  it  was  sold  under  the 
hammer  to  Isaac  Cromey  for  $14,000.  This  was  the  first 
mill  operated  in  Louisville  by  Dupont  &  Co.  In  the  win¬ 
ter  of  1832-33  a  'flour-mill  in  Mayville,  Jessamine  county, 
about  seventeen  miles  from  Louisville,  was  changed  into 
a  paper-mill,  having  an  equipment  of  two  engines  and  a 
cylinder  machine.  It  was  operated  by  the  Messrs.  War- 
nack  for  about  two  years  and  then  changed  back  into  a 
grist-mill. 

It  is  small  cause  for  wonder  that,  after  the  lugubrious 
failures  of  1810  and  1820,  no  attempt  was  again  made 
to  gather  statistics  of  manufacturing  throughout  the 
country  until  the  census  of  1840  was  ordered.  But  the 
third  decennial  effort  was  not  much  of  an  advance  over 
those  that  had  preceded  it,  being  meagre  in  detail  and 
very  inaccurate.  The  returns  gave  the  aggregate  amount 


See  page  169,  ante. 


209 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  UNITED  STATES 


of  capital  invested  in  all  manufacturing  in  the  United 
States  as  $267,726,579  and  the  number  of  persons  em¬ 
ployed  as  399,307.  The  actual  facts,  however,  were  un¬ 
doubtedly  in  excess  of  those  reported  by  the  official 
enumerators. 

The  number  of  paper-mills  reported  were  four  hundred 
and  twenty-six  in  twenty  states  and  the  District  of  Co¬ 
lumbia  men  employed,  four  thousand  two  hundred  and 
twenty-six ;  with  no  record  of  female  employees,  of  whom 
there  were  many;  capital  invested,  $4,745,239;  annual 
value  of  product,  $5,641,495.  The  industry  was  still 
largely  confined  to  the  eastern  part  of  the  country. 
Massachusetts,  with  eighty-two  mills,  was  first  in  capi¬ 
tal  invested,  $1,082,800;  in  number  of  employees,  nine 
hundred  and  sixty-seven ;  in  value  of  product,  $1,659,- 
930.  Pennsylvania  had  eighty-seven  mills;  capital, 
$581,800;  employees,  seven  hundred  and  ninety-four; 
product,  $782,335.  New  York  had  seventy-seven  mills; 
capital,  $703,550;  employees,  seven  hundred  and  forty- 
nine;  product,  $673,121.  New  Jersey  had  forty-one 
mills;  capital,  $460,100;  employees,  four  hundred; 
product,  $562,200.  Connecticut  had  thirty-six  mills ; 
capital,  $653,800;  employees,  four  hundred  and  fifty- 
four;  product,  $596,500. 

In  addition  there  were  other  manufactures  of  paper,  in¬ 
cluding  playing  cards,  etc.,  to  the  annual  value  of  $511,597, 
of  which  Pennsylvania  produced  $95,500,  New  York,  $89,- 
637,  Ohio,  $80,000,  Connecticut,  $64,000,  Massachusetts, 
$56,700,  Indiana,  $54,000,  Vermont,  $35,000  and  Tennes¬ 
see,  $14,000.  Apparently  there  were  no  mills  in  Arkansas, 
Alabama,  Florida,  Georgia,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Iowa, 
and  Wisconsin.^”® 


'""Freeman  Hunt:  The  Merchants’  Magazine,  VI.,  pp.  290  and 
371;  IX.,  pp.  140  and  220.  United  States  Census  Office:  Compen¬ 
dium  of  the  Enumeration  of  the  Inhabitants  and  Statistics  of  the 
United  States,  Sixth  Census,  (1841),  p.  363. 


210 


CHAPTER  ELEVEN 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  RAW  MATERIAL 


Scarcity  of  the  Staple  Linen  Stock  Ever  Present — 
Numerous  Vegetable  Fibres  Are  Tried — Curious 
Tales  of  Many  Hopeful  Experimenters — Straw 
THE  First  Considerable  Addition — Finally,  Pulp 
FROM  Wood  Comes  in  and  Revolutionizes  Paper 
Making — The  Great  Wood  Processes 

OLUMES  have  been  written  and  other  volumes 


V  might  still  be  written  about  man’s  quest  for  material 
for  paper,  and  without  exhausting  the  subject.  Trouble 
began  immediately  with  the  discovery  of  the  utility  of  a 
pulp  prepared  from  vegetable  fibre.  For  their  raw  ma¬ 
terial  the  Chinese,  who  first  used  this  new  process,  took 
rice,  the  bark  of  the  mulberry  tree,  bamboo,  cotton,  linen 
and  hemp.  But,  with  the  extension  of  the  art  elsewhere 
in  Asia  and  thence  into  Europe,  the  necessity  of  finding 
other  substances  for  this  purpose  gradually  sprang  up 
and,  as  time  went  on,  became  more  and  more  an  im¬ 
pressive  factor  in  the  development  of  the  industry.  The 
history  of  paper-making  in  Europe  and  in  the  United 
States  is  shot  through  and  through  with  the  records  of 
persistent  speculating  and  experimenting  in  the  endeavor 
to  escape  from  the  limitation  imposed  upon  it  by  sole  de¬ 
pendence  upon  rags. 

Broadly  speaking,  all  fibrous  vegetable  material,  from 
whatever  source  derived  can  be  used  for  making  paper. 
That  is  not  to  say  that  all  fibre  is  really  usable.  Hun¬ 
dreds  of  promising  experiments  have  failed  and  thus 
demonstrated  that  a  theory,  however  perfect  in  itself,  does 


211 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  tn  the  UNITED  STATES 


not  always  work  out  well  in  practice.  To  what  extent 
it  is  possible  economically  to  produce,  from  any  particular 
fibre,  good  paper,  suitable  for  the  needs  of  the  time,  is 
always  a  debatable  question.  It  is  one  thing  to  make  one 
hundred  reams  as  an  experiment  and  quite  another  thing 
to  make  thousands  upon  thousands  of  reams  that  will  be 
continuously  marketable.  The  item  of  cost  is  the  con¬ 
trolling  factor  in  every  instance,  but  there  are  minor  con¬ 
siderations,  such  as  quantity  and  quality  readily  available, 
adaptability,  and  so  on.  A  technical  success,  and  a  com¬ 
mercial  surety,  are  not  necessarily  synonymous. 

Materials  which  have  been  generally  considered  most 
suitable  for  pulp  purposes  are ;  raw  cotton,  fibres  of  flax 
jute,  hemp,  ramie,  paper-mulberry  and  manilla ;  stems  and 
leaves  of  straws  and  grasses  such  as  esparto,  corn,  sugar 
cane,  bamboo  and  cotton  stalks ;  various  kinds  of  wood, 
commonly  spruce,  hemlock  and  poplar,  although  pine,  bal¬ 
sam,  cottonwood,  fir,  larch,  aspen,  cypress,  beech,  birch, 
maple,  chestnut  and  other  woods  are  also  usable.  Beyond 
these  and  even  within  their  field,  experimenting  has  gone 
on  extensively  and  always  hopefully  despite  manifold  dis¬ 
couragements  and  disappointments. 

Many  lists  of  substances  that  have  been  tried  have  been 
made  up  and  often  printed.  In  one,  upwards  of  a  hundred 
different  substances  were  included,  some  of  the  most 
notable  of  w  hich  were :  trees  of  all  kinds,  alga,  aloe,  as¬ 
bestos,  asparagus,  bagging,  bamboo,  banana,  beet  root, 
blue  grass,  bran,  Brazilian  grass,  broom  corn,  burdock, 
cabbage  stumps,  cocoanut  husks,  cotton  seed,  cot¬ 
ton  stalks,  corn  husks,  couch  grass,  palm,  esparto, 
ferns,  flag  leaves,  flax,  floss  silk,  frog  spittle,  grape  vines, 
gutta  percha,  hay,  hemp,  hollyhock,  hop  vines,  ivory  shav¬ 
ings,  jute,  leather  cuttings,  leaves,  manures,  marshmallow, 
moss,  mulberry,  mummy  cloth,  nettles,  oakum  sacking, 
peat,  plantain,  raw  cotton,  reeds,  rice  straw,  ropes,  rushes, 
sawdust,  sea  weed,  silk,  sorghum,  straw,  thistles,  tow,  wa¬ 
ter  broom  and  wool.^®® 

*”Joel  Munsell:  A  Chronology  of  Paper  and  Paper  Making, 
(1870),  p.  V. 


212 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  RAW  MATERIAL 


Some  thirty  years  ago  another  writer  on  the  subject 
confessed  that  “it  would  be  almost  an  impossibility  to 
enumerate  all  the  materials  which  have  been  used  for  the 
manufacture  of  paper.”  But  he  presented  a  list  of  “those 
paper-making  substances,  concerning  which  he  has  ac¬ 
quired  any  information,  through  diligent  research.”  That 
list  numbered  nearly  five  hundred.  In  it  were  all  the 
well-known  substances  and  others  not  so  well  known,  in¬ 
cluding  some  of  strange  character.  Among  the  many 
oddities  were  animal  substances,  animal  excrements,  brew¬ 
ery  refuse,  blackberries,  cabbage,  cabbage-stumps,  cu¬ 
cumbers,  dust,  frog-spittle,  turnips,  potatoes,  peas,  to¬ 
bacco,  water  lilies,  horseradish,  pineapples  and  raspber¬ 
ries.^®^  Lists  like  this  might  be  extended  almost  indefi¬ 
nitely,  showing  how  persistent  and  indeed  sometimes  reck¬ 
lessly  has  been  the  search  for  a  substitute  for  rags. 

Within  necessarily  limited  space  one  can  only  hope  to 
range  over  the  field  cursorily,  touching  lightly  here  and 
there  upon  some  of  the  most  curious  and  most  illustrative 
features  of  the  subject  of  raw  materials,  and  dwelling 
with  something  more  of  preciseness  upon  those  things 
that  have  contributed  materially  to  the  growth  of  the  in¬ 
dustry  and  become  a  component  part  of  it. 

In  May,  1789,  J.  Hector  St.  John  Crevacoeur  presented 
to  the  American  Philosophical  Society  of  Philadelphia  a 
printed  book  of  which  he  said,  “the  leaves  of  which  are 
made  of  the  roots  and  barks  of  different  tress  [.yiV]  and 
plants,  being  the  first  essay  of  this  kind  of  manufacture.” 
Crevecoeur  was  a  noted  Frenchman  who  came  to  America 
before  the  revolution  and  was  naturalized  here  in  1764. 
He  settled  in  New  York  and  engaged  in  farming  and 
scientific  pursuits.  He  was  the  author  of  Letters  from  an 
American  Farmer,  describing  conditions  of  American  life, 
published  in  London  in  1782.^°® 

Much  attention  was  early  given  to  the  subject  of  paper 
by  the  American  Philosophical  Society  of  Philadelphia. 

“’Charles  T.  Davis:  The  Manufacture  of  Paper,  (1886),  p.  64. 

*^Early  Proceedings  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  p. 
173.  In  Vol.  XXII,  Proceedings  of  the  American  Philosophical 
Society,  (1885). 


213 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


At  a  meeting  of  the  society,  December  6,  1771,  Andrew 
Oliver  presented  “a  small  quantity  of  American  Asbestos, 
found  near  Newburg,  some  prepared  in  Wick  for  lamps 
&:  some  for  Writing  paper.”  This  recalls  the  report  that 
an  asbestos  paper  was  manufactured  in  a  Pennsylvania 
mill  as  early  as  1728. 

At  one  time  some  experimenters  expected  much  from 
a  water  plant  of  slender  green  filaments  similar  to  what 
is  called  frog-spittle.  It  was  observed  that  fibres  of  this 
plant  were  disintegrated  by  action  of  water  and  rose  to 
the  surface  as  scum  where,  finally,  beaten  into  pulp,  mat¬ 
ted  together  and  dried  on  the  shore,  they  came  out  as 
veritable  sheets  of  paper.  It  has  been  noted  in  a  preced¬ 
ing  chapter  that  one  of  the  first  patentees  in  the  paper¬ 
manufacturing  field  was  Chancellor  Robert  R.  Living¬ 
ston.  The  patent  which  Livingston  took  out  was  for  a 
new  process  of  paper-making  in  which  he  was  associated 
Vv'ith  P.  De  Labigarre,  and  out  of  it  a  fortune  was  ex¬ 
pected.  A  letter  written  from  Tivoli,  N.  Y.,  September 
9,  1799,  by  De  Labigarre  to  Peter  Van  Shaack  gives  some 
account  of  the  wonderful  discovery,  which  was  nothing 
more  than  an  idea  of  using  this  frog-spittle.^®® 

Early  in  the  nineteenth  century  the  American  Company 
of  Booksellers  of  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Boston, 
offered  a  gold  medal  valued  at  fifty  dollars  for  the  great¬ 
est  quantity  and  best  quality  of  printing  paper  not  less 
than  fifty  reams  made  from  other  material  than  rags  of 
linen,  cotton  or  wool,  and  a  silver  medal  valued  at 
twenty-five  dollars  for  the  greatest  quantity  of  good  wrap¬ 
ping-paper,  not  less  than  forty  reams,  from  new  material. 
There  is  no  record  that  any  claimants  for  these  medals 
came  forward. 

Among  early  United  States  patents  were  these  for  mak¬ 
ing  pulp :  from  beach  grass,  Isaac  Sanderson,  Milton, 
Mass.,  1838;  corn  husks,  Burgiss  Allison  and  John  Haw¬ 
kins,  Burlington,  New  Jersey,  1802;  currier’s  shavings, 

“'Early  Proceedings  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  p.  68. 
In  Vol.  XXII,  Proceedings  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society, 
(1885). 

“'The  Historical  Magazine,  First  Series,  III.,  pp.  20  and  90. 

214 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  RAW  MATERIAL 


Joseph  Condit,  Jr.,  1801;  pelts,  John  McThorndike,  1814; 
rags  and  straw,  and  corn  husks  to  be  mixed  with  rags, 
John  W.  Cooper,  Washington  township,  Penn.,  1829;  sea 
grass,  Elisha  H.  Collier,  Plymouth,  Mass.,  1828 ;  sea 
weed,  Samuel  Green,  New  London,  Conn.,  1809;  corn 
husks,  Homer  Holland,  Westfield,  Mass.,  1838.  Some 
later  United  States  patents,  about  the  middle  of  the  cen¬ 
tury,  while  the  age-long  efforts  to  turn  wood  into  pulp 
were  being  brought  to  successful  commercial  conclusion, 
were  for  pulp  from  reeds,  grain,  beet  and  other  refuse, 
ivory  shavings,  Spanish  grass,  sorghum,  resinous  bark, 
corn  stalks,  corn  cobs,  pine  shavings  and  cotton  stalks. 

Pulp  from  corn-husks  was  a  favorite  diversion  of  the 
experimenters  back  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  so  con¬ 
tinued  for  a  hundred  years  or  more.  Four  years  before 
Homer  Holland  took  out  his  patent  in  1838,  a  man  in  Ala¬ 
bama  succeeded  in  making  paper  of  very  good  quality 
from  the  husks  of  corn  and  from  various  kinds  of  woods 
and  barks,  particularly  birch  and  poplar.  But  neither 
this  nor  other  efforts  matured.  The  Holland  process 
seems  to  have  been  appropriated  and  improved  upon  in 
Austria  about  1860.  A  new  patent  was  granted  in  the 
United  States  in  1863  to  Dr.  Alois  Ritter  Aur  Von  Wels- 
bach  of  Vienna  and  manufacture  was  commenced  in  the 
Clinton  mills,  Steubenville,  N.  Y. 

A  few  more  instances  may  be  cited  not  because  they  are 
exceptional  nor  because  they  comprise  the  whole  of  the 
subject.  But  they  indicate  the  constant  activity  that  was 
going  on  until  wood-pulp  came  in  to  overwhelm  every¬ 
thing  else,  and  the  eagerness  with  which  even  the  slen¬ 
derest  thread  of  hope  was  seized  upon.  Said  Hunt’s 
Merchant’s  Magazine  in  1841 : 

‘We  now  learn  that  Messrs.  E.  Thorp  &  Sons  of 
Barre,  Massachusetts,  paper-makers,  have  taken  out 
a  patent  for  the  manufacture  of  several  varieties  of 
paper  from  palm  leaf.  They  make,  at  present,  how¬ 
ever,  only  wrapping  paper.  The  editor  of  the  Barre 
Gazette  has  received  a  few  rolls,  and  pronounces  it 
unusually  strong,  and  at  the  same  time  delicate  and 
flexible,  presenting  a  surface  smooth  and  suitable  for 
writing.” 


215 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  UNITED  STATES 


In  1860  The  New  Orleans  Bulletin  stated  that  it  had 
been  shown  seven  different  kinds  of  material,  growing  in 
Louisiana,  and  specimens  of  fibre  made  from  eleven  dif¬ 
ferent  kinds  of  material  also  growing  in  Louisiana.  Some 
of  the  threads  were  described  as  being  of  a  delicate  floss¬ 
like  substance,  nearly  equal  to  silk,  while  others  were 
strong  like  hemp.  It  was  asserted  that  paper  could  be 
made  of  various  colors,  and  of  any  quality  from  the  finest 
white  letter  and  silk  paper  to  the  coarsest  wrapping-paper 
and  from  materials  that  were  abundant ;  bagasse,  the 
refuse  of  sugar  cane,  cotton  stalks,  wild  indigo  and  banana. 

In  1869  experiments  were  made  in  California  with  tule, 
a  swamp  land  product,  which  was  said  to  give  a  good 
quality  of  paper.  The  scarcity  of  rags  on  the  Pacific  coast 
affected  manufacturing  a  great  deal  and  the  two  mills 
then  in  California  complained  that  they  found  it  more 
profitable  to  make  wrapping  than  printing  paper.  About 
the  same  time  a  manufacturer  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  came  for¬ 
ward  with  a  claim  that  he  could  make  wrapping-paper 
better,  tougher  and  cheaper,  from  wire-grass  than  from 
any  other  material  then  in  use.  The  grass  could  be  pro¬ 
cured  from  Michigan  and  cost  thirty  dollars  a  ton.  The 
Portland  Advertiser  of  Portland,  Me.,  in  1869,  tried  the 
experiment  of  printing  on  paper  made  from  water-rice, 
which  grew  in  great  quantities  in  the  northwest ;  and  the 
customary  prediction  of  a  paper-making  revolution  was 
quickly  followed  by  the  customary  failure. 

Just  after  the  civil  war  the  discovery  was  made  that  the 
reed  cane  from  the  southern  states,  when  subjected  to  the 
explosive  force  of  steam,  could  be  converted  into  a  long 
fibre  valuable  for  paper-making.  This  was  sold  in  the 
northern  states  at  twenty  dollars  per  ton  to  be  made  into 
wall  paper,  or,  mixed  with  manilla,  into  wrapping-paper. 
The  American  Fibre  Disintegrating  Company  had  a  big 
establishment  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  where  this  process  was 
used  upon  cane  and  bamboo.  The  works  of  the  company 
were  burned  before  it  was  possible  to  have  the  process 
successfully  tried. 

Great  expectations  were  based  upon  peat  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  nineteenth  century.  It  was  plausibly  argued 

216 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  RAW  MATERIAL 


that  the  quantity  of  peat  in  the  world  is  enormous  and  the 
fibres  derived  from  it  would  furnish  a  substitute  for  wood 
for  boxboard  and  wrapping-paper.  The  low  cost  of  pro¬ 
duction,  less  than  one-half  the  cost  of  straw-board,  was 
an  item  urged  in  its  favor.  An  attempt  to  work  the  bogs 
of  peat  was  first  made  in  Ireland  and  there  failed.  An¬ 
other  attempt  was  made  in  Sweden,  without  success.  In 
the  United  States  the  business  was  established  on  a  sub¬ 
stantial  scale  by  the  Pilgrim  Paper  Company  in  a  mill 
near  Capac,  Mich.,  in  1906.  The  plant  turned  out  thirty 
tons  of  box  board  every  twenty-four  hours.  Notwith¬ 
standing  its  apparently  promising  start  this  “peat  to  paper’’ 
business  fell  by  the  wayside  after  a  few  years. 

As  late  as  1870  anxiety  and  speculation  over  the  scarcity 
of  paper-fibre  was  at  such  a  height  that  consideration  was 
given  to  the  possibility  of  producing  pulp  from  animal  as 
well  as  from  vegetable  substances.  One  ingenious  experi¬ 
menter  proposed  to  use  fishes  which,  divested  of  skin  and 
bones,  were  placed  in  a  diluted  solution  of  bichloride  of 
mercury  and  alum  until  the  fibres  were  separated.  It  was 
claimed  that  when  twenty  per  cent  of  this  pulp  was  em¬ 
ployed  with  rag  the  paper  could  be  distinguished  from 
the  ordinary  article  only  by  its  being  stronger  and  tougher. 
It  is  perhaps  needless  to  say  that  this  fish-paper  did  not 
become  a  commercial  commodity.  Even  more  weird  was 
the  remarkable  discovery  of  a  man  of  Long  Island,  N.  Y., 
nearly  fifty  years  after  the  fish  proposition.  The  idea  was 
sufficiently  told,  without  elaboration  of  detail,  by  an  edi¬ 
torial  commentator  who  thus  disposed  of  it : 

“According  to  the  Brooklyn  Eagle,  a  druggist  on 
Long  Island  has  rescued  the  contents  of  his  wife’s 
garbage  pail  from  the  grasp  of  the  collector,  and 
using  it  as  a  competitor  of  easy  bleaching  sulphite, 
has  begun  his  career  as  a  paper  manufacturer.  The 
discoverer  declines  to  say  just  what  he  does  to  the 
contents  of  the  pail,  except  that  he  treats  it  chem¬ 
ically,  presumably  putting  chloride  of  lime  at  the  head 
of  the  list  of  the  chemicals  to  be  used.  He  likewise 
says  that  the  present  equipment  of  paper  mills  can  be 
used  and  that  his  experiments  demonstrate  that  he 
can  make  paper  out  of  the  new,  yet  old  material.  That 

217 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  UNITED  STATES 


fact  will  prove  ‘an  epoch  in  the  history  of  paper 
making.’ 

“Probably  it  will,  and  when  it  does  the  full  dinner 
pail  and  the  full  garbage  pail  will  go  down  into  his¬ 
tory  as  the  ‘Gold  Dust  Twins’  of  the  paper  industry. 
The  druggist  may  have  discovered  a  method  of  turn¬ 
ing  garbage  into  No.  1  ledger,  or  superfine  writing, 
or  bond  the  equal  of  Cranes’.  We  hope  he  has,  but 
we  await  the  arrival  of  convincing  evidence  on  the 
point,  feeling,  meantime,  that  it  will  be  some  time 
before  ‘Swell  Swill  Bond’  will  be  an  article  to  be 
found  in  the  stock  of  the  leading  paper  distributors 
of  the  country.’’"®^ 

The  foregoing  may  well  conclude  a  review  that  has 
been  desultory  rather  than  exhaustive  and  that  has  pointed 
only  to  the  fact  that  most  of  the  search  for  pulp-material 
has  been  utterly  futile  while  much  has  been  ill-considered 
or  even  fantastic.  When  all  else  has  been  disposed  of  we 
come  finally  to  four  great  staples,  rags,  straw,  wood  and 
jute.  And  the  greatest  of  these  once  was  rags  and  now  is 
wood.  Esparto  would.be  included  if  this  was  a  history  of 
paper-manufacturing  in  England,  but  its  use  in  the  United 
States  has  always  been  negligible.  Until  well  after  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  history  of  paper,  the 
world  over,  at  least  in  Europe  and  on  the  western  conti¬ 
nent,  was,  in  one  sense,  a  history  of  rag-gathering,  for  no 
other  materials  were  to  any  great  extent  available.  In  the 
United  States  rags  and  rags  only  were  the  fundamentals 
in  all  paper-making  for  more  than  a  century  and  a  quarter, 
when  straw  first  came  in  and  wood  long  after.  During 
most  of  this  period  the  mills  depended  almost  entirely 
upon  the  domestic  supply  and  their  often  desperate  condi¬ 
tions  by  reason  of  the  dearth  of  rags  has  been  described 
in  other  chapters  of  this  work.  Not  before  1800  did  the 
United  States  draw  much  in  the  way  of  rags  from  Europe 
and  at  the  end  of  the  first  decade  of  the  century  importa¬ 
tions  were  still  slight.  Then  a  change  began  to  set  in.  A 
veteran  paper-manufacturer  of  that  period  has  described 
the  situation  that  then  existed : 

The  Paper  Trade  Journal,  August  24,  1916,  p.  34. 

218 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  RAW  MATERIAL 


‘  About  the  year  1810  we  began  to  experience  a  de¬ 
ficiency  of  raw  material  (rags)  and  were  obliged  to 
resort  to  Europe  for  supplies.  At  present  [1850]  we 
have  an  additional  inducement  to  import  our  material. 
The  article  of  cotton  has  here  almost  entirely  super¬ 
seded  the  use  of  linen  for  wearing  apparel  and  when 
much  worn  and  reduced  to  rags  becomes  a  very 
tender  substance;  in  fact,  scarcely  able  to  support  its 
weight  when  made  into  paper.  The  foreign  rags,  we 
suppose  average  about  80  per  cent  of  linen,  which 
when  mixed  with  the  domestic  cotton  imparts  to  the 
paper  a  strength  and  firmness  which  it  could  not  have 
without  it.  The  best  qualities  of  writing  and  printing 
papers  contain  from  30  to  50  per  cent  of  linen,  for 
which  we  are  entirely  depending  on  foreign  countries. 
But  as  the  use  of  cotton  for  clothing  is  yearly  increas¬ 
ing  all  over  the  civilized  world,  we  find  the  proportion 
of  linen  in  imported  rags  decreasing  from  5  to  10 
per  cent  from  year  to  year.  We  have  an  excellent 
substitute  for  this  in  our  own  country,  did  not  its 
high  price  prevent  its  use — raw  cotton — which  makes 
a  beautiful  paper  when  mixed  with  the  worn  out  rags 
of  the  same  material.  In  1837-38  when  the  price  was 
as  low  as  6  cents  per  pound,  large  quantities  were 
manufactured  into  paper. 

In  1818  the  value  of  rags  annually  gathered  in  the 
United  States  was  estimated  at  $900,000  and  the  annual 
importations  were  less  than  $100,000.  In  1829  it  was  esti¬ 
mated  that  the  quantity  of  rags  and  other  paper  stock 
annually  saved  amounted  in  value  to  $2,000,000  and  in 
1832  the  mills  of  the  country  paid  for  rags  $3,500,000, 
about  one-half  their  total  cost  of  manufacturing. 

Statistics  of  the  value  of  rags  imported  into  the  United 
States  prior  to  1825  are  not  available.  In  the  annual  re- 
qjorts  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  rags  were  not  sepa¬ 
rately  listed  but  were  classed  with  “all  other  articles,”  as 
the  smaller  imports  were  grouped.  In  1825  rag  importa¬ 
tions  amounted  in  value  to  $79,639;  in  1826,  $122,624;  in 
1827,  $128,949;  in  1828,  $279,041.  With  slight  fallings  off 
in  1829  and  1831  and  a  drop  to  $72,661  in  1830,  they 
mounted  to  $466,387  in  1832,  to  $707,011  in  1836,  dropped 

*’*‘James  M.  Wilcox;  In  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Patents 
for  the  year  1850,  (1851),  p.  404. 


219 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  UNITED  STATES 


to  $439,229  in  1837,  and  then,  except  with  fallings  to 
$79,853  in  1843,  to  $295,586  in  1844  and  to  $304,216  in 
1847,  went  up  quite  regularly,  year  by  year,  with  slight 
fluctuations  to  the  amount  of  $903,747  in  1851.  In  1854 
the  million  dollar  mark  was  passed,  the  import  figures  for 
that  year  being  $1,010,443.  The  imports  in  pounds,  in 
1843  were  2,106,751;  in  1844,  7,301,738;  in  1845,  10,903,- 
101 ;  in  1846,  9,877,706;  in  1848,  17,014,587,  at  an  average 
price  of  3.68  cents  per  pound;  in  1849,  $14,941,236;  .in 
1850,  20,696,875,  at  an  average  price  of  3.61  cents  per 
pound.  The  imports  were  from  thirty  countries,  but  more 
than  two-thirds  from  Italy  alone. 

Manilla,  jute  and  other  materials  were  imported  in  small 
quantities  in  the  earlier  years  of  this  century  but  records 
were  not  separately  kept  until  1843.  In  1843  the  im¬ 
ports  of  manilla  were  to  the  value  of  $42,149,  jute,  $37,- 
164,  tow,  $81,913,  flax,  $15,193;  in  1844,  manilla,  $209,385, 
jute,  $28,692,  tow,  $15,763,  flax,  $67,738;  in  1845,  manilla, 
$457,276,  jute,  $92,507,  tow,  no  figures  given,  flax,  $16,- 
337 ;  in  1850,  manilla,  $659,362,  jute,  $192,816,  tow, 
$32,421,  flax,  $128,917.  The  gross  totals  show  an  increase 
from  $176,419  in  1843  to  $1,013,516  in  1850.^®® 

Lyman  Hollingsworth  of  South  Braintree,  IMass.,  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  Hollingsworth  &  Whitney  Company, 
discovered  that  manilla  rope  could  be  successfully  used  as 
stock.  After  the  panic  of  1837  several  years  of  business 
depression  followed  and,  as  Mr.  Hollingsworth  afterward 
told  the  story,  he  found  himself  not  only  without  stock  but 
also  without  money  with  which  to  buy  it.  From  the 
hemp  sails  or  canvas  that  he  had  been  using  in  his 
mill  he  had  cut  the  manilla  bolt  ropes  and  thrown  them 
aside  in  a  pile  of  refuse,  as  of  no  value.  In  the  emergency 
he  thought  to  experiment  with  these  ropes.  Cutting  them 
up  with  axes,  he  worked  some  of  the  material  into  pulp 
and  then  into  paper,  surprising  even  himself  by  finding 
that  he  had  produced  a  fine,  strong  manilla  sheet.  He  took 
out  a  patent  for  his  discovery,  the  patent.  No.  3362,  being 
granted,  December  4,  1843,  to  John  M.  Hollingsworth  and 

^‘Reports  of  the  United  States  Treasury  on  Commerce  and 
Navigation. 


220 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  RAW  MATERIAL 


Lyman  Hollingsworth,  copartners  under  the  firm  name  of 
J.  M.  &  L.  Hollingsworth.  It  was  immediately  after  this, 
1845-1850,  that  the  importation  of  manilla  and  like  sub¬ 
stances  began  to  assume  prominence. 

Straw  was  the  first  new  material  that  was  brought  to 
supplement  rags,  to  any  substantial  extent.  Experiments 
with  straw  had  long  been  made  in  Europe  and  in  the 
United  States  before  a  practical  method  of  using  it  was 
discovered  by  a  Pennsylvania  man. 

William  Magaw  of  Meadville,  Penn.,  was  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  potash  in  1827  and  after.  The  hoppers 
that  were  used  were  lined  with  long  straw  before  the  ashes 
were  introduced  and  Magaw,  in  handling  the  straw,  dis¬ 
covered  that  by  macerating  it  he  could  produce  a  substance 
that  was  very  like  the  rag  pulp  out  of  which  ordinary 
wrapping-paper  was  made.  On  this  idea  he  secured  a 
patent,  March  8,  and  May  22,  1828,  and  at  once  began 
manufacturing  in  a  small  way.  The  paper  that  he  made 
was  of  a  faint  yellow  color  but  strong  and  durable  and 
after  it  came  to  be  machine-made  was  sold  for  less  than 
two  dollars  per  ream  imperial  size.  It  has  been  said  that 
an  edition  of  the  New  Testament  was  printed  on  it  at  a 
cost  of  only  five  cents  a  copy  and  in  1829  it  was  used  for 
several  issues  of  Niles’  Weekly  Register.  The  story  is 
told — and  you  may  believe  it  or  not  as  you  choose— that, 
in  November,  1829,  at  Meadville,  a  canal  boat  was  launched 
that  was  built  of  materials  that  had 
been  growing  on  the  banks  of 
French  creek  twenty-four  hours  be¬ 
fore  and  that  two  days  later  it 
started  down  the  creek  and  the  Al¬ 
legheny  river  for  Pittsburg,  ninety 
miles  away,  with  twenty  passengers 
aboard  and  three  hundred  reams  of 
straw  paper.^^® 

One  of  the  first  with  whom  Ma¬ 
gaw  consulted  regarding  his  dis¬ 
covery  and  his  idea  of  adapting  the 

^°The  Crawford  Messenger.  In  Sherman  Day:  Historical  Col¬ 
lections  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  pp.  256,  258. 

221 


George  A.  Shryock. 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


straw-pulp  to  the  manufacture  of  paper  was  George  A. 
Shryock  who  was  then  operating  the  Hollywell  mill  near 
Chambersburg,  Penn.  In  the  summer  of  1829  experiments 
were  conducted  in  the  Hollywell  mill  and  proved  eminently 
successful.  For  several  weeks  the  work  went  on,  seven 
hundred  to  one  thousand  pounds  of  straw  being  boiled  at 
one  time  and  paper  made  at  from  twenty  to  thirty  reams 
per  day. 

Samples  of  the  new  paper  were  sent  to  John  Jay  Smith 
who  was  librarian  of  the  Philadelphia  Public  Library  and 
also  editor  of  The  Philadelphia  Bnlletin.  Samples  were 
sent  to  other  persons  in  different  parts  of  the  L-nited  States 
and  in  Europe.  Part  of  one  issue  of  the  Bulletin  was 
printed  on  straw  paper  and  a  small  lot  made  into  wall¬ 
paper  by  a  Philadelphia  manufacturer. 

Shryock  was  so  impressed  with  the  results  of  these  ex¬ 
periments  that  he  abandoned  the  manufacture  of  paper 
from  rags  and  for  several  months  devoted  his  mill  entirely 
to  the  manufacture  of  paper  from  straw.  He  introduced 
a  small  cylinder  machine  and  always  after  claimed  that 
“this  was  the  first  machine  ever  operated  on  that  material.” 
Within  a  year  he  invented  the  grooved  wood  roll  for  the 
manufacture  of  binders-boards  and  box  boards.  At  that 
time  he  had  set  up  a  steam  boiler  of  fifteen  horse  power  in 
which  to  cook  the  straw  and  was  making  from  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  reams  of  crown  wrapping- 
paper  every  twenty-four  hours.  His  discovery  of  the 
availability  of  straw  for  binders-board  encouraged  him  to 
extend  his  operations.  He  built  a  new  mill-dam,  widened 
the  head-race,  built  a  new  drying-house,  constructed  addi¬ 
tions  to  the  old  mill,  put  in  four  pulp  engines,  fitted  more 
rooms  for  drying,  and  added  a  new  steam  house  with 
tubs ;  all  this  at  an  expenditure  of  about  $35,000. 

In  association  with  Nicholas  G.  Ridgley  of  Baltimore 
Shryock  purchased,  from  Magaw  for  $26,000,  the  exclu¬ 
sive  right  to  the  straw-pulp  process  for  all  the  eastern  part 
of  the  United  States,  and  plans  were  made  to  increase  the 
capacity  of  the  Hollywell  mill  and  to  erect  other  mills  in 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  Paterson,  N.  J.,  Old  Chester,  Penn., 
and  Chambersburg  Penn.  The  sudden  death  of  Ridgley 


222 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  RAW  MATERIAL 


upset  these  plans  and  in  1831  a  new  firm  was  organized, 
composed  of  Shryock,  S.  D.  Culbertson,  Reade  Washing¬ 
ton  and  Alexander  Calhoun.  This  concern,  known  as 
G.  A.  Shryock  &  Co.,  built  a  mill  on  the  Conococheague 
creek  near  Chambersburg.  The  mill  building  was  one 
hundred  and  fifty  by  fifty  feet  and  five  stories  high,  had 
one  hundred  and  two  miles  of  drying  poles,  seventeen  large 
dry  presses,  eight  pulp  engines  and  eight  machines  easily 
making  one  hundred  pounds  per  hour.  A  big  establishment 
for  that  time  and  locally  known  as  “The  Mammoth,”  it 
stood  for  more  than  thirty  years,  being  destroyed  when 
Chambersburg  was  burned  in  July  1864  by  raiding  con¬ 
federate  troops  under  General  J.  A.  McCausland;  and  it 
was  not  rebuilt. 

Relating  the  story  of  his  early  efforts  with  straw  Mr. 
Shryock  once  said : 

“It  is  not  difficult  to  tell  the  origin  and  progress  of 
the  manufacture  of  straw  paper  and  boards,  but  who 
can  tell  the  toil,  labor,  anxiety  and  mental  agony  en¬ 
dured  for  the  first  four  or  five  years?  ...  In 
my  life  of  experiments  I  made  paper  of  every  descrip¬ 
tion  from  straw — wheat,  rye,  barley,  oats  and  buck¬ 
wheat — corn-blade,  all  the  grasses,  corn-husks,  white- 
pine  shavings,  willow  wood,  refuse  tan,  also  bleached 
straw,  to  resemble  printing  paper.  But  as  rags  could 
then  be  bought  from  two  and  one-half  to  four  and 
one-half  cents  per  pound,  it  would  not  pay  to  bleach 
straw. 

In  1853  Jean  T.  Coupler  and  Marie  A.  C.  Mellier 
showed,  in  the  New  York  Crystal  Palace  exhibition,  speci¬ 
mens  of  paper  made  from  straw,  by  a  process  which  they 
had  patented  in  France  and  in  the  United  States.  Feinour 
&  Nixon  of  Philadelphia  introduced  the  process  into  their 
mills  on  the  site  where  the  Nixon  Flat  Rock  mills  were 
later  located.  Then  they  were  supplying  the  Public  Ledger 
of  Philadelphia  with  paper  and  the  owners  of  that  period¬ 
ical,  impressed  by  the  scarcity  of  rags  for  pulp  purposes, 
encouraged  the  experiment  with  straw  by  trying  to  use 
the  new  kind  of  paper  from  that  material.  But  their  good 


^^The  Franklin  Repository,  Chambersburg,  Penn.,  May  2,  1866. 

223 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


intentions  did  not  meet  with  success  as  the  story  has  been 
told  with  humorous  exaggeration  by  one  who  knew.  It  is 
a  good  story  and  may  be  at  least  accepted  as  enlivening  the 
otherwise  dullness  of  veracious  history. 

“The  subscribers  to  the  Ledger  in  many  cases  re¬ 
turned  their  papers  with  the  inquiry  lead-penciled  on 
the  margin,  as  to  why  the  owners  did  not  use  wrap¬ 
ping  paper.  Complaints  were  made  from  a  section  of 
the  city  in  which  the  Ledger  was  served,  and  in  which 
a  large  number  of  goats  were  kept,  that  the  subscrib¬ 
ers  failed  to  receive  their  papers.  Knowing  that  pa¬ 
pers  had  been  served  a  watch  was  set  to  catch  the 
thief,  when  it  was  discovered  that  the  goats,  attracted 
by  the  yellow  color  and  thinking  it  was  straw,  ate  the 
papers.  The  mortality  in  goats  in  that  section  in¬ 
creased  greatly,  due  to  the  bad  quality  of  printers’ 
ink  used  in  those  days  and  the  improper  preparation 
of  the  pulp  which  was  not  boiled. 

For  many  years  the  Magaw  process  practically  had  the 
field  to  itself.  As  time  went  on,  however,  new  methods 
of  treating  straw  were  devised  and  improvements  made. 
Palmer  &  Howland  of  Fort  Edw'ard,  N.  Y.,  in  1859,  de¬ 
vised  modifications  in  apparatus  and  in  treatment.  In  1860 
Eben  Clemo  of  Toronto  took  out  patents  for  making  pulp 
from  straw  or  grass  by  treatment  with  nitric  acid  and  an 
alkaline  solution.  Tait  &  Holbrooke  of  Jersey  City  and 
New  York,  in  1863,  came  out  with  a  plan  for  cutting  and 
grinding  straw  between  burr-stones  and  then  treating  it 
chemically.  And  others  were  studying  the  problem. 

Eventually  the  Nixons  introduced  many  improvements 
upon  the  French  process  and  in  the  closing  years  of  the 
century  the  Flat  Rock  mills  were  making  2,600,000  pounds 
of  straw  paper  annually  or  about  ninety-three  thousand 
reams  newspaper  size,  worth  about  $450,000.  Six  hundred 
tons  of  rags  were  used,  three  thousand  tons  of  straw,  five 
hundred  tons  of  soda  ash,  four  hundred  tons  of  bleaching 
powder  and  two  thousand  tons  of  coal.^^® 

“'William  H.  Nixon  in  The  Paper  Trade  Journal,  October  16, 
1897,  p.  59. 

^^The  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography,  Vol. 
XX,  p.  330. 


224 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  RAW  MATERIAL 


Paper  from  wood  was  a  reality,  from  time  immemorial. 
Passing  by  the  Chinese  usage  of  the  mulberry  and  other 
trees,  paper-makers  in  Europe  never  ceased  trying  to  ex¬ 
tract  the  fibres  from  all  kinds  of  trees  but  without  material 
or  enduring  success  until  well  into  the  middle  of  the  nine¬ 
teenth  century.  Concerning  nearly  every  experimenter, 
it  is  impressively  declared  that  the  idea  was  suggested  to 
him  from  observation  of  the  fibre  of  wasp’s  nests.  Reau¬ 
mur  the  French  scientist,  in  an  essay  in  1719,  pointed 
out  this  and,  although  it  was  claimed  that  he  was  the  first, 
it  is  quite  likely  that  others  had  anticipated  him  in  thi.s 
observation  and  conclusion.  He  had  numerous  followers 
down  to  Keller.  But  for  more  than  a  hundred  years  after 
Reaumur  the  wasps  continued  to  succeed  while  their  more 
ambitious  human  imitators  were  conspicuously  failing. 

In  the  United  States,  Matthew  Lyon  of  Fairhaven,  Vt., 
made  a  fair  quality  of  paper  from  the  bark  of  the  bass¬ 
wood  and  there  were  others  in  the  field  in  his  time  and 
later.  Lewis  Wooster  and  Joseph  E.  Holmes,  of  Mead- 
ville,  Penn.,  got  out  a  patent  in  1830  for  making  pulp  from 
wood.  They  used  lime  and  aspen  frees  and  their  process, 
which  was  chemical,  required  one  hundred  pounds  of  wood 
for  five  to  seven  reams  of  paper.  An  edition  of 
Crawford’s  Messenger  was  printed  on  this  paper. 
A  few  years  later  William  Magaw  of  Meadville, 
contested  the  Wooster-Holmes  patent  which  was  decided 
to  be  an  infringement  and  work  under  it  ceased.  In  1834 
Daniel  Stebbins  of  Northampton  Mass.,  tried  the  bark  and 
foliage  of  the  mulberry  tree.  He  had  a  nursery  of  trees 
which  he  had  raised  from  seeds  imported  from  China. 
This  was  when  the  craze  for  cultivating  the  silk  worm  had 
spread  all  over  the  eastern  part  of  the  United  States,  and 
mulberry  plantations  were  to  be  as  common  as  apple  or¬ 
chards.  But  the  silk-culture  experiment  failed  and  so 
also  did  that  of  pulp  from  the  mulberry,  although  a  few 
reams  of  excellent  writing  paper  were  produced. 

In  1855  George  W.  Beardslee  in  a  mill  in  Little  Falls, 
N.  Y.,  attempted  to  make  pulp  from  basswood  but  his  ex¬ 
periment  was  not  successful.  In  1863  an  edition  of  The 
Boston  Journal  was  printed  on  paper  made  from  basswood 

225 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


but  nothing  came  from  this,  although  it  was  said  that 
“the  paper  presents  a  clear  surface,  is  of  soft,  firm  texture 
and  admirably  adapted  for  newspaper  purposes.” 

Milton  D.  Whipple  of  Charlestown,  Mass  in  1855  pat¬ 
ented  a  method  of  preparing  wood  for  pulp  by  grinding 
wooden  blocks  on  a  stone  and,  in  the  same  year,  Louis 
Koch  of  New  York  devised  machinery  for  separating  the 
fibres  without  destroying  them,  by  means  of  a  series  of 
rollers.  An  improvement  in  the  treatment  of  stuff  b>- 
chemical  process  was  the  subject  of  a  patent  by  Julius  A. 
Roth  in  1857.  Charles  Marzoni  of  New  York,  in  1858, 
took  out  a  patent  for  reducing  wood  to  pulp  by  mechanical 
means,  using  an  “adamantine”  stone  with  steam  and  hot 
water  and  in  the  same  year  Henry  Voelter  patented  his 
method  of  using  a  rotary  grinder  or  millstone  for  abrasing 
the  wood.  In  1863  several  patents  in  this  field  were  taken 
out.  Stephen  M.  Allen  of  Woburn,  Mass.,  patented  a 
process  of  crushing  the  logs  of  wood  longitudinally  to  pre¬ 
serve  the  integrity  of  the  fibres  which  were  then  boiled, 
ground  and  bleached.  Professor  Chadbourne  of  Williams 
College  came  out  with  a  process  which  combined  chemical 
and  mechanical  principles  and  which  was  expected  to  re¬ 
duce  the  cost  of  pulp  to  one  half.  George  E.  Sellers  of 
Hardin  County,  Ill.,  grandson  of  Nathan  Sellers  the  noted 
maker  of  paper-moulds  in  the  period’  of  the  revolution, 
took  out  a  patent  for  preparing  fibre  by  vertical  pressure. 

Several  years  of  seemingly  fruitless  experimenting, 
principally  in  the  town  of  Reading  England,  preceded  the 
final  success  of  Hugh  Burgess  and  his  partner  Charles 
Watt  in  making  pulp  from  wood  by  chemical  process.  In 
1851  they  were  at  last  able  to  show  good  pulp  by  their 
method  and  from  this,  white  paper,  suitable  for  printing, 
was  made  in  a  paper-mill  in  Boxmoor,  Hertfordshire, 
England.  Part  of  a  weekly  issue  of  The  London  Jomtial 
was  printed  from  this  paper  and  it  passed  the  test  full  well. 
The  Burgess  invention,  simply  stated,  was  the  producing 
“of  a  good  pulp  by  boiling  wood  in  caustic  alkali  at  a  high 
temperature”  with  the  substitution  or  addition,  in  some  in¬ 
stances,  of  chlorine  or  the  hypochlorites  for  the  caustic 
alkali.  At  that  time  paper  for  printing  commanded  £40 


226 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  RAW  MATERIAL 


a  ton  in  London,  made,  of  course,  entirely  from  rags,  and 
it  was  hoped  that  the  price  could  be  reduced  nearly  one- 
half  if  pulp  from  wood  could  be  had. 

The  process  was  patented  in  England  in  1852,  but  the 
new  pulp  did  not  meet  with  prompt  acceptance  there.  Dis¬ 
appointed,  Burgess  came  to  the  United  States  with  his 
invention  in  1854  and  secured  a  patent  here,  in  that  year. 
In  this  country  he  joined  with  Morris  L.  Keen  of  West 


Hugh  Burgess. 


Philadelphia  who  had  been  working  upon  a  mechanical 
process  of  deriving  pulp  from  wood.  Burgess  and  Keen 
conducted  further  experiments  in  an  old  engine-house  of 
the  Wilmington  &  Philadelphia  Railroad,  at  Gray’s  Ferry, 
on  the  Schuylkill  river,  near  Philadelphia,  where  Keen 
also  had  a  lumber  wharf.  The  experimenting  period  lasted 

227 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


several  months  and  during-  that  time  various  raw  materials 
were  tried,  wood,  straw,  corn-stalks,  bamboo  and  cane, 
none  being  found  as  suitable  as  wood.  The  first  pulp  was 
made  into  paper  in  the  Warren  mill  of  Maylandville,  near 
the  pulp-mill,  and  also  by  Megargee  Brothers  and  J.  How¬ 
ard  Lewis.  Larger  mills  were  built  at  Royers’  Ford  on 
the  Schuylkill,  the  following  year  and  for  nearly  forty 
3'ears  work  was  carried  on  there  with  Burgess  as  manager. 

Prejudice  against  the  new  pulp  was  not  easy  to  over¬ 
come.  For  a  long  time  many  manufacturers  held  stub¬ 
bornly  to  the  opinion  that,  while  wood-pulp  might  be  a 
good  filler,  it  was  not  a  good  fibre.  Gradually,  however, 
soda-pulp  won  its  place  into  acceptance.  Jessup  &  Moore 
and  Matin  Nixon  became  early  and  large  users  of  it  and 
others  followed  them.  For  a  long  time  there  were  sceptics. 
One  critic  wrote  thus  scornfully  of  the  process : 

“The  great  bamboo  enterprise  was  thrown  into  the 
shade  by  another  which  was  organized  for  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  paper  from  poplar,  and  located  at  Man- 
ayunk,  on  the  Schuylkill  river.  It  had  been  discov¬ 
ered  that  poplar  could  be  manufactured  into  paper  in 
twenty-four  hours,  and  with  so  much  economy  that  it 
could  be  sold  so  as  to  afford  a  profit  at  ten  cents  a 
pound !  Works  were  accordingly  constructed  of  stone 
and  brick  [the  Jessup  &  Moore  mill]  in  the  most  sub¬ 
stantial  manner  occupying  a  space  1,000  feet  long  by 
350  feet  wide,  at  a  cost  of  over  $500,000.  United 
with  the  Flat  Rock  mills  [Feinour  &  Nixon]  they  were 
represented  to  embrace  an  area  of  about  ten  acres ; 
and  were  thought  to  be  the  most  extensive  works  of 
the  kind  in  the  world,  and  to  be  capable  of  producing 
from  ten  to  fifteen  tons  of  pulp  a  day.  It  was  an¬ 
nounced  in  the  newspapers,  which  always  exercise  an 
unbounded  liberality  in  figures  in  such  cases,  that  the 
subscribed  capital  in  this  enterprise  was  upwards  of 
ten  millions  of  dollars.  The  grandest  calculations 
were  indulged  in  the  abundant  supply  of  poplar,  with 
the  aid  of  willow  and  other  soft  woods,  nearly  value¬ 
less  for  fuel ;  and  were  to  result  in  as  great  a  boon  to 
civilization  as  the  steam  engine  and  the  magnetic 
telegraph.”^^* 


”*Joel  Munsell:  Chronology  of  Paper  and  Paper  Making,  (1876), 
p.  199. 


228 


Mil  l,  OF  THF,  American  Wood  Paper  Company,  Royer's  Ford. 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


In  1863  the  business  was  organized  as  the  American 
Wood  Paper  Company,  incorporated  with  a  capital  of  two 
million  dollars.  Works  on  a  big  scale  were  erected  at 
Manayunk,  where  twenty  tons  of  wood  pulp  were  daily 
made,  while  in  the  Royer’s  Ford  plant  nine  tons  a  day 
were  turned  out.  Litigation,  as  usual,  sprang  up,  but  for 
years  the  company  was  able  to  hold  its  position  as  the  lead¬ 
ing  manufacturer  of  soda-pulp  and  paper.  In  this  period 
Efhngham  Embree  was  active  in  the  management.  Before 
the  close  of  the  century  the  company  failed  and  the  Mana¬ 
yunk  plant  became  the  property  of  the  Philadelphia  Manu¬ 
facturing  Company  and  was  refitted  as  a  paper-mill. 
Before  that  time  the  manufacture  of  soda-pulp  had  been 
established  in  other  parts  of  the  country.  Principally, 
however,  it  remained  in  Pennsylvania  where,  into  the  next 
century,  were  a  third  of  the  soda-pulp  mills.  Compared 
with  sulphite  and  ground-wood,  soda-pulp  has  not  made  a 
large  showing  in  number  of  mills  or  amount  of  product.^^® 
Like  many  another  inventor  and  discoverer  Benjamin 
C.  Tilghman  succeeded  and  failed ;  succeeded  in  discover¬ 
ing  something  new  and  practical  in  an  industrial  field,  and 
failed  to  profit  from  his  discovery.  In  Philadelphia,  shortly 
after  the  close  of  the  civil  war,  he  experimented  with  a 
solution  of  sulphurous  acid  to  dissolve  the  intercellular 
matter  of  wood,  leaving  the  fibres  to  be  turned  into  a  pulp 
suitable  for  the  making  of  paper.  The  result  was  success¬ 
ful,  as  to  the  product  finally  secured,  but  an  entirely  satis¬ 
factory  method  of  operation  had  not  been  found  when  Mr. 
Tilghman,  after  having  spent  much  time  and  money, 
ceased  his  efforts  and  went  to  work  in  another  field. 

After  Tilghman  had  abandoned  his  sulphite  experiments 
Fry  and  Ekman  in  Sweden,  about  1870,  carried  investiga¬ 
tion  further  and  the  improved  Ekman  process  came  into 
practical  use,  first  secretly,  until  about  1879,  and  then 
more  openly  in  England  and  finally  in  a  large  mill  near 
London  in  1884.  The  first  American  paper-maker  to  take 

Smith  Futhey  and  Gilbert  Cope:  History  of  Chester  County, 
Pennsylvania,  (1881),  p.  492.  The  Paper  Trade  Journal,  October 
16,  1897,  pp.  59  and  140.  Lockwood's  Directory  of  the  Paper  and 
Stationery  Trades,  (1915). 


230 


THE  SEARCH  EOR  RAW  MATERIAL 


up  the  process  and  operate  on  a  commercial  scale  in  this 
country  was  Charles  S.  Wheelwright  of  Providence,  R.  I. 
In  1882  he  saw  the  working  of  the  Ekman  process  in  a 
small  mill  in  Bergvik,  Sweden.  Although,  as  there  shown, 
the  process  was  evidently  imperfect  on  the  mechanical 
side,  the  high  grade  of  the  product  encouraged  Mr.  Wheel¬ 
wright  and  his  associates  to  erect,  on  a  large  scale,  the 


Benjamin  C.  Tilghman. 
Inventor  of  the  Sulphite  Pulp  Process. 


plant  of  the  Richmond  Paper  Company  at  Greenwood 
Point,  East  Providence.  Pulp  of  high  quality  was  made 
but  the  mechanical  difficulties  in  the  way  of  practical 
working  were  so  great  that  the  manufacturers  soon  found 
themselves  seriously  embarrassed.  Various  forms  of 
digesters  were  designed  by  Mr.  Wheelwright  to  over- 

231 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


come  defects  in  the  apparatus.  He  took  out  patents  in 
1884  and  1886  and  was  able  to  reduce  the  cost  of  repairs 
on  linings  very  considerably. 

Throughout  all  this  period  of  difficulty  the  product  of 
the  mill  was  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  any  other  in  the 
United  States  or  abroad,  at  that  time  and  immediately 


George  N.  Fletcher. 


thereafter.  Nevertheless  the  process  could  not  then  be 
made  commercially  profitable  and  IMr.  Wheelwright  was 
forced  to  give  it  up.  The  Richmond  mill  had  two  Four- 
drinier  machines  and  ran  on  book  and  news,  producing 
fifteen  tons  a  day.  In  1887  the  company  failed  with  lia¬ 
bilities  of  $600,000.^1®^^ 

B.  Griffin  and  A.  D.  Little:  The  Chemistry  of  Paper- 
Making,  (1894),  p.  185-7. 


232 


The  Alpena  Mh^l. 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  UNITED  STATES 


In  after  years  the  Mitscherlich  patents  for  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  sulphite-pulp  were  brought  from  Europe  to  the 
United  States  by  August  Thilmany  who  had  bought  the 
American  rights.  The  International  Sulphite  Fibre  and 
Paper  Company  was  formed  to  purchase  the  American 
and  Canadian  rights  and  to  enter  upon  the  manufacture. 
Under  the  supervision  of  Thilmany  a  mill  was  built  in 
Alpena,  Mich.,  by  George  N.  Fletcher  and  Albert  Pack, 
two  lumbermen  who  were  primarily  interested  because 
they  wished  to  find  some  way  of  utilizing  the  refuse  from 
their  lumber-mills.  When  completed  the  plant  cost  a  little 
over  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  and,  in  the  essential 
parts  of  its  equipment,  specifications  and  details  submitted 
by  Mitscherlich  were  carefully  followed.  The  process  was 
very  slow  then,  from  sixty  to  seventy-two  hours  being 
consumed  in  charging,  cooking,  and  emptying  a  digester 
which  had  been  built  to  contain  about  twenty-five  cords 
of  wood.  W'ithin  a  decade  improvements  had  been  made 
in  the  process  so  that  cooking  was  done  in  from  ten  to 
sixteen  hours  and  ten  tons  of  pulp  a  day  from  one  digester 
was  not  uncommon.  In  the  beginning  sulphite  sold  at 
four  and  one-half  cents  a  pound  and  by  the  end  of  the  cen¬ 
tury  it  was  produced  for  a  cent  a  pound.  Mr.  Pack  did 
not  long  continue  in  the  business  which  was  carried  on 
alone  by  Mr.  Fletcher  until  his  death  and  afterward,  until 
the  present  time,  1916,  by  his  sons,  though  ground- wood 
in  later  years  there  shared  honors  with  sulphite.  Eventu¬ 
ally  Michigan  lost  its  preeminence  in  this  branch  of  pulp¬ 
making,  Maine,  New  York  and  Wisconsin,  where  wood 
was  most  abundant,  having  a  majority  of  the  mills. 

It  has  been  a  tale  oft-told  that  Friedrich  Gottlob  Keller 
discovered  from  a  deserted  wasp’s  nest  how  small  fibres 
of  wood  were  matted  into  a  coarse  paper  substance  and 
how,  at  his  suggestion,  Henry  Voelter,  a  paper-maker 
and  a  practical  machinist,  constructed  a  machine  and  in¬ 
vented  a  process  for  grinding  wood  into  pulp.  At  the 
World’s  Exposition  in  London  in  1867,  and  at  the  Paris 
Exhibition  in  1867  full  working  plants  of  the  Keller- 
Voelter  process  were  displayed  but  they  attracted  little  at¬ 
tention,  although  it  was  shown  that  mills  in  Germany  were 

234 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  RAW  MATERIAL 


already  producing  a  good  quality  of  ground-wood  pulp. 
Not  many  years  elapsed  before  the  process  was  brought 
to  the  United  States.  The  Pagenstechers,  Albrecht,  Al¬ 
berto  and  Rudolph,  acquainting  themselves  with  the  work 
that  had  been  done  abroad,  imported  two  of  the  new  pulp¬ 
grinding  machines  in  1866.  They  erected  a  building  on  a 
water-power  in  Curtisville  near  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  and 
there  made  wood-pulp,  in  March  1867.  The  first  lot  of 


Albrecht  Pagenstecher. 


pulp  was  tried  in  the  near-by  mill  of  the  Smith  Paper 
Company,  under  the  direction  of  Wellington  Smith,  and 
the  experiment  was  so  satisfactory  that  the  company  con¬ 
tracted  to  use  all  that  the  Curtisville  mill  could  turn  out; 
for  a  year  it  had  a  monopoly  of  the  new  material.  In 
1869  the  Pagenstechers  bought  the  Voelter  patent  for 
this  country  and  by  extensions  the  life  of  the  patent  was 
continued  until  1884  when  it  expired. 

235 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


At  the  outset  about  half  a  ton  a  day  was  the  capacity  of 
the  little  mill  in  Curtisville.  The  pulp  was  formed  into 
cakes  by  hand  presses  and  shipped  to  consumers  in  barrels. 
In  the  Luzerne  mill  a  method  of  running  the  pulp  over  a 
wet  machine  was  adopted  and  thenceforth  it  was  thus 


put  upon  the  market.  Ground-wood  pulp  was  first  sold 
at  eight  cents  a  pound  but  soon  dropped  to  five  and 
four  cents  and  eventually  to  one  cent.  It  was  a  prime 
factor  in  bringing  the  price  of  news-paper  from  four¬ 
teen  cents  in  1869  to  two  cents  before  1900.*^® 

*“A.  Pagenstechcr :  The  Paper  Trade  Journal,  October  16,  1897, 
p.  19. 


236 


CuRTisviLLE  Wood-Pulp  Mill. 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  ni  flic  UNITED  STATES 


In  1868  and  1869  several  persons  were  interested  in  the 
process  and  small  pulp-mills  were  built  in  Lawrence,  Fitch¬ 
burg  and  Lee,  Mass. ;  Norway,  Me.,  Lanesville,  Conn., 
and  Luzerne,  N.  Y.  The  mill  in  Luzerne  was  the  first  to 
be  equipped  with  machinery  made  in  America  and  it  was 
the  beginning  of  the  Hudson  River  Pulp  and  Paper  Com¬ 
pany.  None  of  these  early  mills  was  a  financial  success. 
William  A.  Russell  of  Lawrence  became  acquainted  with 
the  work  of  the  mill  in  that  place  and,  buying  rights  for  the 
New  England  states,  built  two  mills,  one  in  Franklin,  N.  H., 
and  one  in  Bellows  Falls,  Vt.  About  the  same  time  War¬ 
ner  Miller  took  a  large  interest  in  the  Pagenstecher  enter¬ 
prise  and  the  construction  of  the  big  mill  at  Palmer’s 
Falls,  N.  Y.,  was  begun.  Mr.  Miller’s  enthusiasm  and 
energy  in  developing  the  business  were  untiring.  He  was 
particularly  successful  in  combatting  attempted  infringe¬ 
ments  upon  the  patent,  which  were  many,  and  in  securing 
for  ground-wood  favorable  tariff  legislation,  his  activities 
winning  for  him  the  soubriquet  “Wood-Pulp  Miller.” 

Another  pioneer  was  Alvah  Crocker  of  Fitchburg, 
Mass,,  who,  in  connection  with  his  plans  of  developing 
Turner’s  Falls,  Mass.,  into  a  great  mill  center,  built  there 
the  pulp-mill  of  the  Turner’s  Falls  Pulp  Company,  later 
merged  into  the  Montague  Paper  Company.  In  this  mill 
poplar  was  used  exclusively,  one  cord  of  wood  pro¬ 
ducing  about  one  thousand  two  hundred  pounds  of  pulp. 
From  fifty  to  sixty  hands  were  employed  and  the  output 
of  the  mill  was  from  five  to  seven  tons  a  day. 

Thus  was  the  beginning  here  of  the  great  pulp-process 
that  has,  in  less  than  a  half  century,  completely  revolu¬ 
tionized  the  making  of  paper  the  world  over  and  has  ren¬ 
dered  nugatory  all  efforts  to  utilize  pulp  material  from 
other  sources.  Very  soon  ground-wood  pulp  dominated 
the  field.  Eventually  straw  for  printing-paper  was  aban¬ 
doned,  but  was  continued  for  boards.  Soda  pulp  fell  into 
a  minor  position  but  sulphite  pulp  remained  as  a  consid¬ 
erable  factor,  though  proportionately  small  as  compared 
with  ground-wood,  its  superiority  for  book-paper  having 
been  established. 


238 


CHAPTER  TWELVE 


BEFORE  AND  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

Changing  Conditions  Stimulate  Manufacturing  in 
New  England  and  the  Middle  States  —  First 
Mills  in  Fitchburg  and  Holyoke,  Massachusetts 
— Big  Increase  in  Straw-Paper  Making  in  New 
York — Development  of  the  Black  River  Country 
— Destruction  of  the  Industry  in  the  South 

S  the  middle  of  the  century  arrived  paper-manufac- 


turing  had  been  established  on  sound  and  perma¬ 
nent  formdations  and  advanced  to  position  as  one  of  the 
country’s  solid  industrial  institutions,  even  though  it  was 
not  yet  in  the  front  rank.  Small  local  mills  still  existed, 
isolated  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  as  they  had  so 
existed  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  but  no  longer  were 
they  to  be  particularly  reckoned  with.  Most  of  them  were 
fast  disappearing  under  the  effect  of  altered  economic  and 
industrial  conditions ;  expanding  into  larger  activity,  being 
absorbed  by  the  on-coming  big  enterprises,  or  abandoning 
the  field  altogether.  Few  of  them  survived,  individually 
and  vmchanged,  until  the  end  of  this  century.  From  this 
point  on  a  history  of  the  industry,  more  than  ever  before, 
is  a  consideration  of  it  in  mass  rather  than  in  the  multi¬ 
plicity  of  small  details  about  small  endeavors. 

When  the  seventh  census  of  the  United  States  was 
taken,  in  1850,  a  really  serious  attempt  was  made  to  gather 
more  comprehensive  statistics  than  before  in  regard  to  the 
manufacturing  and  other  industries  of  the  country.  The 
result,  however,  scarcely  attained  to  the  success  that  was 
planned  at  the  outset,  although  it  was  better  than  any- 


239 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


thing  of  the  kind  that  had,  up  to  that  time,  been  accom¬ 
plished.  No  establishment  was  included  that  did  not  have 
an  annual  production  value  of  at  least  five  hundred  dollars. 
Two  digests  of  the  statistics  that  were  gathered  were 
made;  one,  in  1853,  under  the  direction  of  J.  D.  B.  De 
Bow,  superintendent  of  the  census,  and  one,  in  1858,  by 
his  successor,  Jos.  C.  G.  Kennedy.  Both  were  manifestly 
imperfect  and  inaccurate,  and  exhibited  only  in  a  broad 
way  industrial  conditions  then  prevailing  in  the  country. 

I'he  statistical  view,  prepared  by  J.  D.  B.  De  Bow,^^^ 
confined  itself  almost  wholly  to  population,  education, 
churches,  libraries,  agriculture,  and  occupations  of  males. 
So  faulty  was  it  that  in  many  parts  the  exact  facts  cannot 
be  got  at,  nor  reliable  conclusions  be  derived  from  it.  Also, 
in  many  of  its  figures,  it  is  not  in  agreement  with  the  later 
abstract  made  by  Jos.  C.  G.  Kennedy.  But,  taking  the 
figures  as  presented,  there  were,  in  1850,  in  the  United 
States,  123,025  manufacturing  establishments,  with  a  cap¬ 
ital  of  $533,245,351,  using  raw  material  to  the  value  of 
$555,123,822,  employing  731,137  males  and  225,922  fe¬ 
males  and  producing  annually  to  value  of  $1,019,106.16. 

Paper  was  not  yet  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  en¬ 
tire  manufacturing  of  the  country.  There  were  four  hun¬ 
dred  and  forty-three  mills,  with  a  capital  of  $7,260,864, 
using  raw  material  to  the  value  of  $5,555,929,  employing 
three  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-five  male  and  two 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  fifty  female  hands  and  produc¬ 
ing  annually  to  the  value  of  $10,187,177.  This  was  an  in¬ 
significant  part  of  the  whole,  but  it  showed  a  slight  increase 
in  the  number  of  mills,  since  1840 — about  four  per  cent. ;  a 
substantial  increase  of  more  than  fifty  per  cent,  in  the 
capital  invested ;  a  decrease  in  the  number  of  male  em¬ 
ployees,  but  ah  increase  in  the  total  number  of  employees, 
and  an  increased  product  of  about  eighty  per  cent.  The 
males  employed,  over  fifteen  years  of  age,  were  less  than 
three  thousand.  On  one  page  of  the  report  the  number  is 
given  as  two  thousand  nine  hundred  and  seventy-one  and 

“'J-  D-  B.  DeBow:  The  Seventh  Census  of  the  United  States, 
1850,  (1853),  pp.  Ixxiv  and  Ixxix. 


240 


BEFORE  AND  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WAR 


on  another  page  as  two  thousand  three  hundred  and  seven¬ 
ty-nine.  Nor  did  these  figures  in  the  report  of  1859  agree 
with  the  abstract  made  in  1858.  In  the  former  no  workers 
were  reported  in  Arkansas,  California,  Florida,  Iowa, 
Louisiana,  Georgia,  Mississippi,  Missouri,  Texas,  Minne¬ 
sota,  New  Mexico,  Oregon  and  Utah,  and  only  two  in  the 
District  of  Columbia.  In  the  abstract  made  five  years 
later  two  mills  were  reported  in  Georgia,  but  no  workers 
in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

The  abstract  made  by  Jos.  C.  G.  Kennedy  was  trans¬ 
mitted  to  the  senate  by  President  Buchanan,  January  21, 
1859.^^*  In  this  it  appeared  that  of  the  443  mills  re¬ 
ported,  New  York  had  106;  Massachusetts,  77;  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  61;  Connecticut,  43;  New  Jersey,  32;  Mary¬ 
land  and  Ohio,  15  each  and  New  Hampshire  and 
Vermont,  15  each.  Massachusetts  had  the  largest 
product,  in  value,  $2,601,628,  followed  by  Connecticut 
with  $7,226,685,  New  York  with  $1,634,579,  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  with  $1,036,655,  New  Jersey  with  $888,475  and 
Ohio  with  $701,036. 

Ill  Massachusetts  the  business  increased  tremendously 
between  1850  and  1855.  A  census  of  the  latter  year,  taken 
by  the  secretary  of  state,  showed:  number  of  mills,  one 
hundred  and  twenty-one;  capital  engaged,  $2,564,500; 
value  of  product,  $4,141,847 ;  persons  employed,  2,630. 

Tbrougliout  this  period  Berkshire  county  continued  to 
hold  its  position  as  the  section  of  the  state  foremost  in  the 
number  of  its  paper-mills  and  the  amount  and  value  of 
products.  Mills  were  in  Lee,  New  Marlboro,  Housatonic, 
Sandisfield,  Sheffield,  Otis,  Hinsdale,  Glendale  in  Stock- 
bridge,  Tyringham,  Adams,  Pittsfield  and  Dalton.  Many 
of  these  dropped  out  of  existence  and  gradually,  as  time 
went  on,  the  business  here  was  concentrated  in  Lee,  South 
Lee,  Glendale,  Housatonic,  Mill  River,  Dalton  and  Adams. 

The  Smith  Paper  Company,  which  became  one  of  the 
big  concerns  of  this  region,  was  developed  in  the  middle 
of  this  century.  Elizur  Smith,  who  was  born  in  1812,  came 

Thirty-fifth  Congress.  Second  Session,  Senate  Executive 
Document  39,  p.  90. 


241 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


into  the  business  of  paper-manufacturing  in  1834  when 
he  bought  an  interest  in  Ingersoll  &  Platner’s  Turkey  Mill 
in  Tyringham.  In  the  following  year  he  became  the 
junior  partner  of  George  W.  Platner,  the  firm  of  Platner 
&  Smith,  thus  organized,  being  one  of  the  leading  con- 


Elizur  Smith. 


cerns  in  Berkshire  for  the  next  generation.  The  firm 
owned  and  operated  the  Aetna,  the  Turkey,  the  Union, 
the  Enterprise,  afterward  known  as  the  Eagle ;  the  Housa- 
tonic,  the  Castle  and  the  Laurel.  Mr.  Platner  also  built 
a  mill  in  Ancram,  N.  Y.,  and  Mr.  Smith,  with  his  brother, 
bought  a  mill  in  Russell,  Mass.  Mr.  Platner  died  in  1856, 
and  for  several  years  Mr.  Smith  continued  the  business 
under  the  old  firm  name.  At  one  time  the  concern  was 


242 


BEFORE  AND  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WAR 


the  largest  producer  of  writing  paper  in  the  United  States, 
or  perhaps  in  the  world.  It  has  been  said  on  good  author¬ 
ity  that  when  the  public  demand  for  French  or  English 
paper  was  at  its  height,  on  account  of  supposed  superiority, 
the  Platner  &  Smith  writing,  under  their  own  imprint, 
was  considered  to  be  the  best  “imported”  paper  of  the 
kind  in  the  market.  In  1864  Elizur  Smith  took  his 
nephews,  Wellington  and  De  Witt  S.  Smith,  into  the  busi¬ 
ness  and  organized  the  Smith  Paper  Company.  Ultimately 
the  company  owned  every  water  privilege  on  the  Housa- 
tonic  river  between  Lee  and  Pittsfield,  made  their  own 
wood-pulp  and  produced  weekly  from  one  hundred  to 
one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  tons  of  book,  news  and 
manilla  wrapping.^^® 

A  half  century  had  passed  since  Zenas  Crane  built  his 
first  mill  in  Dalton,  and  he  had  been  a  witness  and  a  great 
part  of  the  wonderful  development  of  this  paper-manufac¬ 
turing  region.  Before  his  death,  in  1845,  he  had  trans¬ 
ferred  the  Old  Red  Mill  and  its  business  to  his  sons,  Zenas 
Marshall  and  James  Brewer  Crane.  The  mill  was  burned 
in  1870,  and  its  successor  took  the  name  of  the  Pioneer 
Mill.  An  old  tannery,  that  had  been  in  existence  in  Pitts¬ 
field  near  Dalton  for  fifty  years,  was  converted  to  paper¬ 
making  in  1848.  It  was  operated  by  Wilson,  Osborn  & 
Gibbs  and  then  by  Thomas  Colt,  and  became  known  as 
the  Coltsville  Mill.  In  1862  the  building,  dilapidated  and 
weather-worn,  was  replaced  by  what  was  then  considered 
to  be  a  very  imposing  structure,  one  hundred  feet  by  fifty, 
where  fifteen  men  and  thirty  women  were  employed  and 
three  hundred  and  fifty  tons  of  rags  annually  used.  The 
Cranes  of  Dalton  purchased  the  property  in  1879  and 
thenceforth  devoted  it  to  the  manufacture  of  paper  for  the 
United  States  government,  being  popularly  known  as  the 
Government  Mill.  Its  product  of  twenty  tons  a  day  con¬ 
trasted  strikingly  with  its  earlier  capacity. 

Another  Crane  property  of  about  1850  was  the  Bay 
State  Mill,  operated  first  by  Seymour  Crane  and  James 

’•’Byron  Weston:  History  of  Paper  Making  in  Berkshire  County, 
Massachusetts.  In  Collections  of  the  Berkshrie  Historical  and 
Scientihc  Society,  (1895),  II.,  p.  11. 


243 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


Wilson  and,  after  1865,  by  Zenas  Crane,  Jr.  When  this 
mill  was  burned  in  1877  a  new  structure  was  erected, 
owned  and  operated  by  the  brothers,  Zenas  Crane  and 
Winthrop  Murray  Crane.  Another  son  of  the  pioneer 
Zenas  Crane,  Lindley  Murray  Crane,  established  a  mill 
in  Ballston  Spa,  N.  Y.,  and  two  other  grandsons,  Robert 
B.  and  James  H.  Crane,  built  paper  mills  in  Westfield, 
Mass.  The  Old  Berkshire  Mill,  the  first  in  Dalton,  had 
long  before  passed  from  the  ownership  of  its  founder, 
Zenas  Crane,  into  the  possession  of  David  Carson  and 
his  sons,  Thomas  G.  and  William  W.  Carson.  In  1867  it 
was  sold  to  Charles  O.  Brown  of  Dalton,  George  T. 
Plunkett  of  Hinsdale  and  Lewis  J.  Powers  of  Springfield. 
The  mill  was  burned  in  1872,  but  was  immediately  rebuilt. 
In  the  latter  part  of  the  century  it  was  owned  by  a  stock 
company  whose  members  were  Charles  O.  Brown,  William 
W.  Carson,  Zenas  Crane,  Jr.,  and  John  D.  Carson,  a 
grandson  of  David  Carson.  Later  it  came  back  into  the 
possession  of  the  descendants  of  its  founder,  its  owners  in 
1916  being  Zenas  and  Winthrop  Murray  Crane. 

Byron  Weston  entered  the  field  of  paper-manufactur¬ 
ing  in  Dalton  in  1863,  although  he  had  acquired  plenty  of 
experience  with  the  business  before  that  time.  Born  in 
1832,  he  worked  in  clerical  capacity  and  in  the  practical 
making  of  paper  in  mills  in  Saugerties  and  Ballston  Spa. 
N.  Y.,  in  Hartford  Conn.,  and  in  Lee,  Mass.  In  1863 
he  bought  the  Defiance  Mill,  which  was  built  by  David 
Carson  in  1824  and  rebuilt  by  the  Chamberlains  after  it 
was  burned  in  1852.  The  mill  was  enlarged  and  improved 
by  its  new  owner  and  for  years  it  was  run  on  linen  record 
and  ledger.  In  1876  Mr.  Weston  added  to  his  property 
by  buying  the  site  on  which  a  mill  had  been  built  by  A.  S. 
Chamberlain  in  1855  and  afterward  owned  by  William  F. 
Bartlett  and  Walter  Cutting  until  it  was  burned  in  1875. 
There  he  erected  the  Centennial  Mill,  and  with  the  two 
mills  developed  the  large  business  thenceforth  known 
under  his  name. 

Holyoke,  Mass.,  as  “the  paper  city,”  did  not  come  into 
existence  until  1853,  long  after  its  neighbors  in  Berk¬ 
shire  county  were  firmly  established  in  paper-making. 

244 


BEFORE  AND  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WAR 


Water-power  from  the  Connecticut  river,  by  means  of 
dams  and  canals,  was  developed  after  1847,  and  then  began 
the  making  of  the  city  into  a  great  manufacturing  center. 

Joseph  C.  Parsons  started  the  business  in  Holyoke  with 
the  Parsons  Paper  Company,  of  which  he  was  the  treas¬ 
urer  and  agent,  the  other  principal  stockholders  being 


Byron  Weston. 

Chester  W.  Chapin,  Whiting  Street,  Aaron  Bagg,  Lucy 
Bagg,  Cyrus  Fink  and  Broughton  Alvord.  Mr.  Parson.s 
was  the  practical  man  in  the  enterprise  and  the  only  one 
who  possessed  experience  in  paper-making,  having  been 
manager  of  the  Ames  mills  in  Northampton  and  South 
Hadley  Falls,  in  1840-43,  and  for  six  years  part  owner  and 
manager  of  the  mill  of  the  Eagle  Paper  Company  in  Suf- 


245 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


field,  Conn.  He  maintained  his  direction  of  the  Parsons 
Paper  Company  until  his  death  and  was  also  interested  in 
other  paper-mills.  Aaron  Bagg  was  president  of  the 
company.  Two  years  after  the  first  mill  was  built  a  sec¬ 
ond  was  erected  and  later  on  the  Parsons  Paper  Company 
No.  2  was  organized  and  another  mill  built,  this  being 
devoted  to  bond,  ledger,  bristol  and  linens.  The  name  of 
the  corporation  and  the  business  has  been  continued  to 
the  present  time,  1916,  by  the  sons  of  Aaron  Bagg. 

The  second  paper-manufacturing  concern  of  Holyoke 
was  the  Holyoke  Paper  Company,  which  had  a  mill  built 
in  1857.  Orick  H.  Greenleaf  acquired  a  controlling  inter¬ 
est  in  the  company  in  1865  and  retained  his  connection 
until  his  death  in  1896.  Mr.  Greenleaf,  as  the  senior 
member  of  the  firm  of  Greenleaf  &  Taylor  of  Springfield, 
Mass.,  organized  in  1853  as  the  Greenleaf  &  Taylor  Manu¬ 
facturing  Company,  had  previously  owned  a  mill  in  Hunt- 


J.  C.  Parsons. 
246 


BEFORE  AND  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WAR 


Mill  of  the  Parsons  Paper  Company. 

ington,  Mass.,  run  on  book,  news  and  writing,  and  also  a 
former  Ames  mill  in  South  Springfield.  In  later  years  the 
Holyoke  Paper  Company  was  under  the  management  of 
Oscar  S.  Greenleaf,  brother  of  Orick  H.  Greenleaf.  The 
Greenleaf  &  Taylor  Manufacturing  Company  became  the 
Massasoit  Paper  Manufacturing  Company,  with  change  of 
owners,  in  1870,  and  soon  after  another  mill  was  built. 

The  Whiting  Paper  Company  was  organized  in  1865, 
with  L.  L.  Brown  of  South  Adams  as  president  and  Will¬ 
iam  Whiting,  treasurer  and  agent.  In  the  course  of  time 
William  Whiting  became  president  of  the  concern  and  his 
son,  William  F.  Whiting,  the  treasurer,  the  latter  suc¬ 
ceeding  to  the  presidency  on  the  death  of  his  father,  with 
Samuel  R.  Whiting  as  treasurer.  The  senior  William 
Whiting  was  connected  with  the  Holyoke  Paper  Com¬ 
pany  and  the  Hampden  Paper  Company  before  he  organ¬ 
ized  the  corporation  that  bears  his  name.  His  first  mill, 
built  in  1865,  was  followed  by  a  second  one  in  1872.  Still 
later  Mr.  Whiting  organized  the  Collins  Paper  Company 
and  built  a  mill  in  North  Wilbraham,  Mass.  The  Holyoke 
and  the  North  Wilbraham  mills,  after  twenty-five  years  or 

247 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


Aaron  Bagg. 


more  of  successful  operation,  had  the  reputation  of  being 
the  largest  makers  of  fine  writing  in  the  world. 

The  Newton  Brothers,  James  H.,  Moses,  Daniel  H.  and 
John  C.,  were  conspicuous  in  the  paper-manufacturing  of 
the  Connecticut  river  valley  for  half  a  century.  Primarily 
they  were  mill  constructors,  erecting  many  buildings  for 
mill  companies.  But  they  were  also  operators  of  some  of 
the  mills  that  they  erected  and  equipped,  such  as  the 
Franklin  and  Albion.  One  of  their  many  enterprises  was 
the  first  mill  of  the  Crocker  Manufacturing  Company, 
which  was  built  by  them  in  1870  and  sold  the  following 
year  to  S.  S.  and  D.  P.  Crocker.  The  company  made  a 
specialty  of  collar-paper  and  added  to  their  property  by 
purchasing  the  old  Albion  mill  in  1878.  Ultimately  the 
company  became  the  Crocker-McElwain  Company,  manu¬ 
facturers  of  bond,  bristol,  envelope  and  papeterie  papers. 
Moses  Newton  was  superintendent  of  the  Hampden  Paper 

248 


BEFORE  AND  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WAR 


Company  and,  in  1877,  with  James  Ramage  and  George 
A.  Clarke,  he  organized  the  Newton  Paper  Company. 

The  Southworth  brothers  were  engaged  in  paper-manu¬ 
facturing  in  western  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  from 
the  early  years  of  the  century,  and  particularly  after  1850. 
Wells  Southworth  built  a  mill  in  Mittineague,  West 
Springfield,  in  1839,  and  there  made  fine  writing- 
paper  by  hand.  His  mill  became  the  property  of  the  Soutli- 
worth  Manufacturing  Company,  of  which,  for  more  than 
fifty  years,  he  was  president  and  which  later  became  the 
Southworth  Company,  in  the  control  of  his  son,  Horatio 
W.  Southworth.  A  younger  brother,  Edward  Southworth, 
was  connected  with  the  paper-manufacturing  in  Mit¬ 
tineague  in  1839  and  the  two  brothers  also  organized  the 
Hampshire  Paper  Company  of  South  Hadley  Falls.  A 
nephew,  John  H.  Southworth,  in  1849  and  after,  was 
business  agent  for  two  mills,  one  in  Poquannock  and  one 


Wn-LiAM  Whiting. 
249 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


in  Rainbow,  Conn.  With  his  brothers  he  had  an  interest 
in  the  Southworth  Manufacturing  Company  and  the 
Hampshire  Paper  Company,  of  which  he  was  treasurer. 

In  South  Hadley  Falls,  across  the  river  from  Holyoke, 
the  Carew  Manufacturing  Company  built  a  mill  in  1848, 
the  structure  being  burned  and  rebuilt  in  1873.  Joseph 
Carew,  the  treasurer  and  agent  of  the  company,  had  his 
first  experience  in  the  South  Hadley  Falls  mill  of  Howard 
&  Lathrop,  the  competitors  of  the  celebrated  Ameses  early 
in  the  nineteenth  century.  In  1830  he  took  charge  of  that 
mill,  remaining  until  it  was  burned  in  1847.  In  the 
following  year  he  organized  the  Carew  Manufacturing 
Company.  At  its  prime  the  Carew  mill  had  a  capacity  of 
three  thousand  pounds  of  fine  writing  every  twenty-four 


James  H.  Newton. 
250 


BEFORE  AND  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WAR 


Wells  Southworth. 


hours.  The  business  was  continuing  in  1916,  with  pro¬ 
duction  increased  to  twenty-four  thousand  pounds  a  day 
on  ledger,  linen,  bond  and  writing.  The  mill  was  very 
successful  from  the  start,  and,  at  one  time,  had  acquired 
the  habit  of  earning  an  annual  one  hundred  per  cent,  divi¬ 
dend  on  the  capital  of  the  company  and  a  reserve  in  addi¬ 
tion.  The  second  mill  in  South  Hadley  Falls  was  that 
of  the  Hampshire  Paper  Company,  a  concern  incorporated 
by  the  Southworth  brothers  and  several  associates.  The 
mill  was  run  on  writing  and  bristol  board,  but  in  contem¬ 
poraneous  time  has  produced  bond  only.^-” 

In  Fitchburg,,  Mass.,  paper-making  began  in  a  single 

““  N.  B.  Sylvester :  History  of  the  Connecticut  Valley  in  Mas¬ 
sachusetts,  (1879),  II.,  pp.  626,  890,  915-937,  1052.  The  Paper 
Trade  Journal,  October  16,  1897,  p.  69.  Lockwood’s  Directory  of 
the  Paper  and  Stationery  Trade,  1873-1916. 

251 


Mill  of  tuk  Caklw  Paflk  Comfanv. 


PAPER  IMANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


small  mill  owned  by  Leonard  Burbank  of  the  Worces¬ 
ter  family  of  paper-makers  after  1801.  Little  was  done, 
however,  until  toward  the  middle  of  the  century,  al¬ 
though  Alvah  Crocker,  with  whose  name  paper-manu¬ 
facturing  in  Fitchburg  became  conspicuously  identified, 
arrived  and  bought  the  Burbank  mill  in  1823.  Crocker 
was  born  in  Leominster,  near  Fitchburg,  his  father  be¬ 
ing  a  vat-man  in  the  mill  of  Nichols  &  Kendall,  and 


Joseph  Carew. 


there  he  learned  the  trade,  afterward  working  in  a  mill 
in  Franklin,  N.  li.  In  1826  he  built  a  mill  for  himself, 
the  second  in  Fitchburg.  He  was  then  only  twenty-five 
years  of  age.  In  1851  he  took  Gardner  S.  Burbank  as 
a  partner  and  for  sixty-five  years  the  concern  of 
Crocker,  Burbank  &  Co.  has  continued,  first  as  a  part¬ 
nership  and  then  as  a  corporation,  in  the  hands  of 
Crocker,  Burbank,  and  Crockers  of  the  second  and  third 
generations. 


253 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  i„  the  UNITED  STATES 


Ai.vah  Crocker. 

Other  mills  and  their  owners  in  Fitchburg  by  the 
middle  of  the  century  were :  Snow  mill,  1839,  S.  S. 
Crocker;  Cascade,  1847,  S.  A.  Wheeler  and  partners; 
Whitney,  1847,  Whitney  &  Bogart;  Upton,  1851, 
Edward  Upton  and  Alvah  Crocker;  Hanna,  1852, 
George  and  Joseph  Brown;  Lyon,  1853,  Moses 
G.  and  B.  F.  Lyon ;  Stone,  1857,  S.  A.  Wheeler  and 
Joel  Ames.  Alvah  Crocker  was  interested  in  several  of 
these  from  the  outset,  and  ultimately  they  all  became 
the  property  of  Crocker,  Burbank  &  Co. 

Gardner  S.  Burbank  was  born  into  paper-making. 
Pie  was  a  son  of  Abijah  Burbank  of  Millbury,  who  built 
the  first  mill  in  Worcester  county  in  the  revolutionary 
period  and  was  a  cousin  of  Leonard  Burbank.  He 
learned  his  trade  in  Montpelier,  Vt.,  worked  in  the 
Millbury  mill  under  his  uncle.  General  Caleb  Burbank ; 

254 


BEFORE  AND  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WAR 


worked  in  Worcester  in  the  mill  owned  by  his  uncle, 
Elijah  Burbank;  was  a  partner  in  the  Russell  mill  with 
Marshall  Field  and  Cyrus  W.  Field,  in  1846,  and  arrived 
in  Fitchburg  to  be  a  partner  with  Alvah  Crocker  five 
years  later.  He  continued  in  the  firm  until  1866,  when 
he  retired  from  active  business.  He  died  in  1888. 

Another  Fitchburg  manufacturer  of  note  was  Rodney 
Wallace,  who  was  born  in  Ipswich,  N.  H.,  in  1823,  and 
soon  after  1853  was  established  in  Fitchburg  as  a  whole¬ 
sale  dealer  in  books  and  stationery.  In  December,  1864, 
he  was  associated  with  Stephen  Shipley  and  Benjamin 
Snow  in  buying  the  Lyon  paper-mill,  and  beginning  busi¬ 
ness  as  the  West  Fitchburg  Paper  Company.  In  1869 
he  became  sole  owner  of  the  property,  and  enlarged  the 
plant  by  adding  two  new  mills  and  new  and  improved 
machinery,  so  that  a  few  years  later  it  had  a  capacity  of 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


thirty  thousand  pounds  a  day.  Mr.  Wallace  continued 
to  be  a  manufacturer  of  paper  until  his  death,  when  he 
was  succeeded  by  his  sons,  Herbert  I.  and  George  R. 
V/allace.  In  fifty  years  from  its  start  the  one  little  mill 


George  Bird. 


had  expanded  to  a  plant  of  four  mills,  with  a  daily  ca¬ 
pacity  of  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand  pounds.-^^ 
Another  paper-maker  whose  name  was  associated  with 
Milton  was  George  Bird,  who  came  from  Maine  in  1795. 
He  purchased  water-power  and  a  mill  site  and  built  a 

H.  Hurd;  History  of  Worcester  County,  Massachusetts, 
(1889),  III.,  pp.  275,  310-19. 


256 


BEFORE  AND  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WAR 


mill.  In  1812  he  purchased  water  rights  on  the  Neponset 
river  in  what  afterward  became  the  town  of  Walpole. 
There  he  established  the  paper-manufacturing  business 
that  has  been  in  the  hands  of  the  Bird  family  for  more 
than  one  hundred  years.  In  the  second  generation  Francis 
W.  Bird,  who  was  born  in  1809  and  died  in  1894,  was 
not  only  a  successful  paper-manufacturer,  but  was  also 
one  of  the  noted  men  in  public  life  in  Massachusetts  in  his 
generation.  Charles  S.  Bird,  who  was  born  in  1855,  suc¬ 
ceeded  his  father  in  ownership  and  management  of  the 
Bird  mills.  He  improved,  developed  and  extended  the 
property  imtil  it  embraced  a  box-mill  in  the  original  home 
in  Walpole,  three  mills  in  Norwood,  a  mill  in  Phillips- 
dale,  R.  I.,  and  two  mills  in  Canada — one  in  Pont  Rouge, 
Quebec,  and  the  other  in  Hamilton,  Ontario. 

Connecticut  had  between  forty  and  fifty  mills  in  the 
decade  1850-60.  Special  interest  attached  to  several  of 
them.  In  Buckland,  in  1825,  Joseph  Chamberlain  had  a 
mill  that  had  been  erected  by  Richard  L.  Jones  forty  years 
before.  Henry  Champion,  Samuel  C.  Maxon,  William 
Debit- and  the  Goodwins — George,  Henry  and  Edward — 
were  among  the  owners  who  followed  Chamberlain.  In 
1868  this  mill  was  sold  to  Peter  Adams,  he  who  had  the 
distinction  of  setting  up  and  working  the  first  Fourdrinier 
in  the  United  States,  in  Saugerties,  New  York,  in  1827. 
Adams  devoted  himself  chiefly  to  writing-paper,  and  at 
one  time  his  mill  was  considered  to  be  one  of  the  largest 
and  best  of  its  kind  in  the  country. 

A  famous  mill  of  its  day  was  that  of  the  Chelsea  Manu¬ 
facturing  Company  in  Norwich,  which  was  “claimed  to  be 
the  largest  paper-mill  establishment,  not  only  in  the  United 
States,  but  the  largest  in  the  world. The  principal 
building  of  the  plant  was  three  hundred  and  seventy-five 
feet  long  and  there  were  several  detached  buildings.  The 
equipment  included  twenty-six  beating  engines  and  six 
paper-making  machines.  By  the  census  of  1860  it  ap¬ 
peared  that  seventy-five  males  and  one  hundred  and  five 
females  were  employed  and  the  annual  product  was  valued 


“^Frances  M.  Caulkins :  History  of  Norwich,  Conn.,  p.  620. 

257 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


at  $475,000.  At  the  height  of  its  prosperity  David  Smith 
of  Norwich  and  J.  C.  Rives  of  The  Congressional  Globe, 
Washington,  D.  C.,  were  the  principal  proprietors.  But 
bigness  did  not  save  the  establishment,  for  it  failed  and 
was  sold  out  in  1865. 

Paper-making  began  in  Windsor  Locks  about  1836 
when  Charles  Haskell  Dexter  started  to  manufacture 
wrapping  in  the  basement  room  of  an  old  grist-mill  which 
he  owned  with  Jabez  Haskell.  Ten  years  later  he  built  a 
mill  which  became  the  foundation  of  the  works  of  C.  H. 


C.  H.  Dexter. 


Dexter  &  Sons.  In  1856  Persee  &  Brooks  built  and  put 
into  operation  a  mill  that  w'as  reputed  to  be  one  of  the 
largest  then  existing  in  the  country.  The  business  was 
incorporated  with  a  capital  of  $450,000,  but  it  met  with 

258 


BEFORE  AND  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WAR 


financial  disaster.  Reorganized,  the  concern  became  the 
Seymour  Paper  Company  of  contemporaneous  times. 

A  census  of  the  state  of  New  York  was  taken  in  1855. 
The  figures  reported  were :  paper  mills,  one  hundred  and 
nine;  capital,  $1,584,200;  value  of  product,  $2,805,147. 
The  straw-mills  were  thirty-seven,  capital  in  real  estate 
and  machinery,  $333,400;  value  of  product,  $250,846; 
persons  employed,  two  hundred  and  fifty-four.“-® 

At  the  middle  of  the  century  Columbia  county,  New 
York,  and  the  neighboring  region  was  at  the  height  of  its 
straw-wrapping  prosperity.  Modern  improvements  came 
into  use,  tubular  boilers,  steam-dryers  and  round  bleach- 
vats  with  false  bottoms ;  the  business  was  stimulated  and 
many  new  mills  were  built.  On  both  sides  of  the  Hudson 
river  fifty  or  more  mills  were  being  successfully  operated. 
Gathering  the  names  of  these  mills  and  of  the  men  who 
built  and  ran  them  in  the  days  of  this  top-round  prosperity 
seems  like  going  through  a  graveyard  trying  to  decipher 
the  names  on  the  old  tombstones.  A  few  of  them  stood 
out  most  prominently  in  their  times ;  the  Philip,  the  Phil- 
mont,  the  Agawamuck,  the  Garner,  the  Mesick,  the 
Davis,  the  Columbia,  the  Rossman  and  a  score  of  others, 
But  before  the  end  of  the  century  nearly  all  these  were 
memories  only.  I 

The  first  Chittenden  mills,  1801  and  1809,  in  Stockport, 
were  followed  by  others,  particularly  one  that  eventually 
came  into  possession  of  J.  W.  Rossman.  This  began  in 
1846  and,  in  1862,  it  was  expanded  and  improved.  In 
1878  and  later  the  mill  had  a  sixty-two-inch  and  a  sixty- 
eight-inch  machine,  with  four  thirty-six-inch  engines  and 
produced  fourteen  hundred  reams  of  wrapping  paper  a 
day.  A  mill  built  in  Chatham,  about  1840,  by  Dickey  & 
Wilder,  who  had  been  there  from  1828,  was  acquired  by 
the  Gilbert  brothers  and  became  widely  known.  It  was 
running  as  late  as  1880  and  had  a  capacity  of  several 
hundred  tons  a  year,  operating  one  fifty-inch  and  one 
thirty-six-inch  machine.  Staats  D.  Tompkins,  one  of  the 
most  noted  men  of  his  time  and  place,  owned  three  mills, 

18mU?8“").®pT88"548,  m4h:’' 


259 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


one  in  Chatham  Centre,  one  near  Chatham  Four  Comers 
and  one  in  Rensselaer  county.  The  mill  in  Chatham  Cen¬ 
tre  was  considered  a  marvel,  because  it  was  the  first 
double  mill  known  in  that  section,  having  four  beaters 
and  two  forty-eight-inch  machines.  It  afterward  became 
well  known  as  the  Bullis  Mill. 

One  of  the  most  famous  mills  of  the  period  was  that 
built  about  1845  by  Samuel  Hanna  and  Horace  W.  Peas- 
lee  at  Malden  Bridge.  It  was  built  to  run  on  rag  paper, 
but  was  not  successful  and  was  turned  to  straw.  Peas- 
lee  was  a  mechanical  genius  and  brought  out  many  new 
inventions.  The  mill  was  operated  by  the  Rossmans  of 
Stockport  in  1900.  Others  active  in  the  business  at 
this  time  and  later  were :  'Plato  B.  Moore,  in  Marcellus 
Falls,  the  Smarts  in  Tro}^  the  Rossmans  and  the  Van 
DeCarrs  in  Stockport,  Carpenter  &  Peaslee  in  Ancram, 
Edward  Coventry  in  Stuyvesant  Falls,  Charles  E.  Brig¬ 
ham  in  Blue  Stone,  George  H.  'Phillip,  Horton  &  Harder, 
Samuel  Rogers,  J.  D.  Shufelt,  Louis  M.  Payne  and  J.  H. 
Garner  in  Chatham. 

Just  prior  to  the  civil  war  the  demand  for  straw  paper 
was  not  large  and  prices  were  small.  For  several  years 
the  business  was  at  a  rather  low  ebb.  From  1862  to  1870 
there  was  a  boom.  Paper  could  not  be  produced  fast 
enough  to  supply  the  demand  and  new  mills  were  rushed 
lip  in  a  hurry  while  the  old  ones  were  enlarged.  Prices 
went  up  as  high  as  $1.10  per  ream  of  ten  pounds.  The 
demand  for  rye  straw  was  enormous  and  prices  ranged 
from  fifteen  to  thirty  dollars  a  ton.  But  the  fall  came. 
Manufacturing  was  inflated,  prices  could  not  be  main¬ 
tained  and  rye  straw  could  no  longer  be  bought  cheap. 
That  was  the  beginning  of  the  end.  In  the  early  seventies 
the  production  of  straw-paper  was  well  established  in  the 
western  states  and  it  was  not  long  before  that  section  had 
the  monopoly  of  that  kind  of  paper-making.  Locations, 
new  mills,  water-power,  wages,  raw  material,  markets  and 
facilities  generally  were  more  favorable  in  the  west  than 
in  the  east.  The  small  mills  in  New  York  gradually 
gave  up  the  struggle  and  before  the  end  of  the  century 
fully  two-thirds  of  them  had  been  dismantled  or  had  been 

260 


BEFORE  AND  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WAR 


turned  over  to  the  manufacture  of  other  kinds  of  paper.^^‘‘ 
The  Knowltons,  who  had  been  in  Watertown,  N.  Y., 
from  1824,  continued,  in  this  period,  to  be  factors  in 
paper-manufacturing  in  northern  New  York.  The  orig¬ 
inal  firm  of  Knowlton  &  Rice  retired  in  1854,  but  after  a 


Illustrious  Remington. 


few  years  of  operation  by  other  owners,  the  sons  of  the 
pioneer  Knowlton,  John  C.  and  George  W.,  Jr.,  bought 
the-mill  in  1861,  added  to  it  other  properties  and  expanded 
the  business  to  the  extent  that  it  has  been  known  as  the 
Kamargo  Mill  for  more  than  a  generation  since.  First 

^^Columbia  County  at  the  End  of  the  Century.  (1900).  Franklin 
Ellis:  History  of  Columbia  County,  New  York',  (1878y  The  Paper 
Trade  Journal,  October  16,  1897,  pp.  84-90. 


261 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


this  mill,  like  most  others,  made  wrapping,  news,  book, 
letter  and  other  varieties,  but  in  the  course  of  time  it  was 
devoted  entirely  to  writing  paper  and  still  later  to  cover 
paper  and  specialties. 

The  Remingtons  came  into  Jefferson  county  in  1854, 
when  Illustrious  Remington  and  his  sons,  Hiram  and 
Alfred  D.  Remington,  who  had  been  paper-manufacturers 
in  Fayetteville,  Onondaga  county,  leased  and  fitted  up  an 
old  cotton-mill  in  Jewettsville  with  four  rag  engines  and 
an  eighty-four-inch  Fourdrinier  and  made  one  ton  of  paper. 
Alfred  D.  Remington,  a  man  of  extraordinary  business 
ability,  gave  a  decided  impulse  to  the  industry  on  the 
Black  river.  In  1865  he  organized  the  Remington  Paper 
Company,  which  in  a  few  years  became  one  of  the  biggest 
plants  in  the  country.  Before  the  end  of  the  century  the 


B.  B.  Taggart. 
262 


BEFORE  AND  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WAR 


company  was  operating  two  paper-mills,  three  wood-pulp 
mills  and  a  sulphite  mill,  and  was  making  and  using  thirty 
tons  of  wood-pulp  a  day,  all  from  spruce.  Another  Rem¬ 
ington  mill  was  built  on  Sewall’s  island  in  1862  and  was 
many  years  operated  by  Charles  and  Hiram  Remington, 
but  after  1881  by  Hiram  Remington  &  Son,  under  the 
name  of  the  Watertown  Paper  Company,  with  a  paper 
and  a  pulp  mill.  Charles  R.  Remington  and  his  son 
Charles  H.  Remington,  as  the  C.  R.  Remington  &  Son 
Company,  built  in  1882  a  mill  for  news  with  a  capacity  of 
twenty-five  tons  daily  and  a  mill  for  wood-pulp  with  a 
capacity  of  twelve  tons  daily. 

B.  B.  Taggart,  bom  in  1831,  bought  an  old  mill  in 
Pamclia,  within  the  corporate  limits  of  Watertown,  in 
1866,  and  put  in  machinery  for  making  news  and  manilla. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  the  Taggarts  Brothers  Com¬ 
pany,  and  they  made  rope  papers  and  flour  sacks.  The 
concern  went  extensively  into  the  manufacturing  of  paper 
bags.  From  the  outset  W.  W.  Taggart,  a  brother  of  B. 
B.  Taggart,  had  part  in  the  enterprise.  Another  mill 
was  built  at  Felts  Mills,  and  this  was  occupied  by  the 
Taggart  Paper  Company  for  making  news. 

At  the  close  of  the  century  there  were  eleven  paper¬ 
manufacturing  companies  in  Jefferson  county :  Knowlton 
Brothers,  the  Remington  Paper  Company,  the  Taggarts 
Paper  Company,  the  Watertown  Paper  Company,  C.  R. 
Remington  &  Son,  the  Ontario  Paper  Company  and  the 
Taggarts  Brothers  Company ,Hn  Watertown;  the  Globe 
Paper  Company  and  the  Brownville  Box  &  Paper  Com¬ 
pany,  in  Brownville;  the  Frontenac  Paper  Company  and 
the  St.  Lawrence  Paper  Company,  in  Dexter.  Knowlton 
Brothers,  the  Remington  Paper  Company  and  the  Tag¬ 
garts  Paper  Company  each  had  two  mills.  The  full  daily 
capacity  of  all  these  mills  was  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  thousand  pounds,  and  all  made  news,  except  Knowl¬ 
ton  Brothers,  who  made  manilla  colored  paper. 

In  this  region  the  Remington  Paper  Company  was  the 
first  to  start  a  mill  for  grinding  wood-pulp.  This  was 
in  1869,  two  years  after  the  process  had  been  introduced 
into  the  United  States.  Taggart  Brothers  followed  with 

263 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


Martin  Nixon. 


a  mill  in  1872  and  then,  in  addition,  between  1882  and 
1889,  the  Knowltons  and  the  Ontario  Paper  Company  in 
Watertown,  the  Jefferson  Paper  Company  of  Black  River, 
the  St.  Lawrence  Paper  Company  of  Dexter  and  ten 
other  concerns  in  Brownville,  Dexter,  Carthage,  Great 
Bend  and  Black  River  took  up  the  work.  All  these  were 
in  operation  in  1897  and  their  combined  daily  capacity 
was  two  hundred  and  thirty-four  thousand  pounds.  Most 
of  these  mills  were  run  by  the  paper-manufacturers  to 
supply  their  own  needs  for  pulp,  but  a  limited  pait  of  the 
product  was  sent  away.^-^ 

Within  Philadelphia  county,  Pennsylvania,  there  was 
much  activity  in  paper-manufacturing  in  the  years  imme¬ 
diately  following  the  middle  of  the  centur}-.  Only  a  few 
of  the  names  of  the  mill  proprietors  of  this  time  and  a 

*“John  A.  Haddock;  History  of  Jefferson  County,  New  York, 
(1895),  pp.  202-210.  The  Paper  Trade  Journal,  October  16,  1897, 
p.  45. 


264 


BEFORE  AND  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WAR 


little  later  need  be  enumerated  here.  Among  them  were 
Joseph  Duckett,  Charles  Megargee,  Sylvester  Erwin, 
Joseph  Stelwagcn,  Jacob  D.  Heft,  Theodore  Megargee, 
Charles  Wells,  Morris  L.  Keen,  Sebastian  Rudolph,  John 
W.  Dixon,  E.  R.  Cope,  Alfred  D.  Jessup,  B.  H.  Moore, 
Henry  Nixon,  Martin  Nixon,  E.  C.  Warren,  P.  H.  War¬ 
ren,  John  Lang,  Casper  Garrett  and  Alexander  Balfour, 
without  prejudice  against  others  -whose  names  have  been 
passed  by.  On  the  Crum,  Darby,  Mill  and  Pennypack 
creeks  were  numerous  mills,  but  nearly  all  passed  away 
before  the  end  of  the  century. 

One  of  the  famous  mills  on  the  Wissahickon  creek  in 
this  period  was  that  with  which  the  Megargees  were  long 
identified.  The  house  of  Charles  Megargee  was  estab¬ 
lished  in  1830  and  was  long  one  of  the  most  flourishing 
concerns  in  the  business.  The  Megargee  Wissahickon 
mill  was  one  of  the  finest  of  its  time.  It  had  a  long  and 
honorable  career,  passing  through  many  hands  before  it 
came  into  the  possession  of  the  Megargees,  about  1850, 


William  H.  Nixon. 


265 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


and  it  was  operated  by  them  until  1884,  when  it  was 
taken  by  the  municipal  park  commission  and  torn  down. 

For  more  than  two  generations  the  Nixons  had  a  large 
part  in  paper-manufacturing  in  and  about  Philadelphia. 
They  naturally  came  by  their  disposition  to  the  industry 
by  line  of  inheritance.  Martin  Nixon  was  a  son  of  Daniel 
Adams  Nixon  and  his  mother  was  Susanna  Rittenhouse 
daughter  of  Martin  Rittenhouse  who  was  of  the  famous 
Rittenhouse  family  of  paper  manufacturers,  being  in  the 
fourth  generation  from  William  Rittenhouse,  the  first 
American  paper-maker,  in  1690.  Martin  Nixon,  thus  by 
heredity  a  paper-maker,  began  work  in  the  early  part  of 
the  century.  For  some  years,  before  and  after  1839,  he 
owned  and  operated  a  noted  Manayunk  mill,  the  Eckstein, 
built  and  first  operated  by  Samuel  Eckstein.  Writing  and 
sugar-loaf  papers  were  there  made  and  the  mill  continued 
in  existence  until  well  toward  the  end  of  the  century. 

A  half  century  later  Martin  Nixon  and  his  nephew 
William  H.  Nixon  established  the  firm  of  Martin  &  Wm.  H. 
Nixon  which  was  incorporated  in  1888.  Previous  to  that 
time  they  had  been  located  at  Manayunk  where  they  had 
the  first  building  of  what  afterward  became  the  big  plant 
of  the  Flat  Rock  IMills  of  contemporaneous  times.  Fei- 
nour  &  Nixon  were  on  this  Manayunk  site  from  1844  and 
it  was  there  that  straw-pulp  was  made  in  1854  and  soda- 
pulp  first  used  about  ten  years  later. 

IMost  of  the  mills  of  this  and  earlier  date  advertised 
themselves  with  elaborately  engraved  trade-marks  that 
were  attached  to  each  bundle  of  paper  sent  out.  That  of 
the  Humphreysville  mill  in  Connecticut  has  been  pictured 
on  another  page  of  this  book.^^’^  That  of  the  McDowell 
mill  in  Philadelphia  was  another  good  example  of  its  kind. 
It  was  used  in  1825  and  after,  and  probably  before.  Jo¬ 
seph  McDowell,  first  of  the  name  in  the  industry,  was 
born  in  1791  and  learned  the  trade  of  making  paper  in 
New  London  Cross  Roads,  Chester  county,  Penn. 
He  became  one  of  the  foremost  manufacturers  of  paper 
in  Pennsylvania,  having  first  a  mill  on  the  Pennypack 

See  page  223  and  228,  ante. 

See  page  141,  ante. 


266 


BEFORE  AND  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WAR 


creek,  Montgomery  county,  and  then  one  in  Manayunk 
where  he  made  writing-paper  until  the  mill  was  burned  in 
1858.  F.  W.  McDowell,  son  of  Joseph  McDowell,  learned 
the  trade  in  the  mill  of  his  father  and  during  his  long  life 
was  active  in  the  business  in  Philadelphia,  connected  with 
the  Megargees  and  Jessup  &  Moore.  In  the  third  genera¬ 
tion,  Charles  McDowell  continued  the  business,  1916,  in 
two  mills  where  his  grandfather  began. 

Paper-manufacturing  in  the  southern  states  never  at¬ 
tained  great  importance.  Prior  to  the  civil  war  the  indus¬ 
try  there  did  not  exist  much  more  than  merely  hopefully. 
Scattered  mills  were  built  and  run  in  a  desultory  way  in 


A  Paper-mill  Trade-mark  of  1825. 
267 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Texas,  South  Carolina  and  else¬ 
where,  as  has  been  noted  on  preceding  pages  of  this  his¬ 
tory,  but  that  was  about  allC^®  In  1847  the  publishers  of 
The  New  Orleans  Bulletin  announced  that  they  were  using 
paper  manufactured  by  themselves  at  a  “mill  in  the  third 
municipality,”  which  they  then  believed  was  the  only  suc¬ 
cessful  attempt  to  manufacture  paper  as  far  south  as 


Joseph  McDowell. 


Louisiana.”  But  the  United  States  census  of  1850  did 
not  find  this  mill.  Two  mills  were  then  working  in  Georgia. 
The  editor  of  The  Savannah  Republican,  commenting  upon 
the  fact,  said  that  a  few  years  before  he  had  despaired  of 
living  long  enough  to  see  such  an  achievement.  A  Georgia 
man,  writing  in  1846,  called  attention  to  the  need  of  a 


“*  See  page  168,  ante. 


268 


BEFORE  AND  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WAR 


paper-mill  in  that  section.  He  said  that  there  was  then 
no  mill  in  Georgia  or  Alabama,  the  paper  consumed  in 
those  states  being  procured  from  the  north,  with  the  ex¬ 
ception  of  a  small  portion  supplied  by  two  mills  in  Green¬ 
ville,  S.  C.,  which  mills  were  working  under  the  disadvan¬ 
tage  of  being  obliged  to  bring  in  their  raw  materials  and 
then  to  transport  out  to  the  market  their  manufactured 
paper,  a  distance  of  two  hundred  miles,  by  wagon.^^® 

Just  before  the  war  William  S.  Whiteman,  third  of  the 
name,  who  had  been  active  in  paper-making  in  Tennessee, 
following  his  father  and  his  grandfather,  built  another 
mill  in  the  old  Stone  Fort,  near  Manchester.  One  of 
Whiteman  mills  was  operated  successfully  on  news,  book, 
manilla  and  wrapping  until  the  fall  of  Fort  Donelson  in 
1862.  Throughout  the  war  it  never  stopped  running,  night 
or  day  or  Sunday^  except  to  clean  the  boilers.  Its  product, 
the  largest  of  any  mill  in  the  south,  was  shipped  to  every 
point  that  could  be  reached  outside  the  state.  Confederate 
bank  notes  and  other  government  securities  were  printed 
on  paper  there  made. 

When  the  war  broke  out  in  1861  there  were  fifteen 
mills  in  the  states  that  seceded.  They  produced  seventy- 
five  thousand  pounds  of  paper  daily  while  the  daily  con¬ 
sumption  in  that  part  of  the  country  was  over  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  pounds,  fully  one  half  the  supply  being 
drawn  from  Europe  and  from  mills  of  the  west.  An  entire 
suspension  of  newspaper  publishing  was  at  once  imminent 
and  the  burning  of  the  mill  in  Augusta,  Ga.,  in  1863,  the 
largest  in  the  south,  intensified  the  seriousness  of  the  situ¬ 
ation.  Other  paper  mills  of  the  period  were  located  in 
Richmond,  Va.,  one  in  South  Carolina,  probably  at  Bath ; 
and  one  in  Marietta,  Ga.,  operated  by  James  Byrd,  an 
uncle  of  William  S.  Whiteman,  of  Nashville.  As  wires 
and  felts  were  not  manufactured  they  were  brought 
through  the  lines  by  blockade  runners,  being  hauled  in 
wagons  through  the  mountains  of  Virginia,  Kentucky, 
Tennessee  and  Georgia.®*® 

“freeman  Hunt:  The  Merchants  Magazine,  xv,  p.  416. 

“°R,  A.  Halley;  Paper  Making  in  Tennessee,  ix,  (1904),  p.  215. 
The  Paper  Trade  Journal,  October  16,  1897. 

269 


CHAPTER  THIRTEEN 


AN  ERA  OF  PROSPERITY 

In  the  Years  Following  the  Civil  War — A  Unique 
Directory  of  1861 — Growth  of  the  Industry  in 
Ohio — Futile  Attempts  to  Start  Paper-Making 
in  Utah — Founding  the  Industry  in  the  North- 
West — Rapid  Advancement  in  Holyoke,  Massa¬ 
chusetts — Some  Amazing  Prices  of  that  Period 

IN  the  prosperity  that  followed  the  civil  war  and  held 
the  country  for  a  decade  paper-manufacturing  had  its 
share.  For  four  years  the  civil  war  was,  on  the  whole,  a 
retardant  force,  for  the  southern  market  for  paper  was 
cut  off,  although  selling  prices  were  high,  and  the  cost 
of  raw  material  increased  more  proportionately.  But 
change  came  quick  after  peace  and  improvement  was  de¬ 
cided  and  on  large  scale.  Old  mills  were  expanded,  im¬ 
proved  machinery  and  methods  were  introduced  and  new 
mills  on  a  scale  heretofore  unthought  of  were  built.  Paper 
commanded  high  prices  though  the  demand  was  shifting, 
now  strong,  now  weak,  but  on  the  whole  good.  Progres¬ 
sion  toward  larger  establishments,  business  on  an  ex¬ 
tensive  scale,  and  concentration  of  manufacturing  in 
certain  favorable  localities  which  had  started  during  the 
preceding  generation  had  become  a  marked  feature  of 
the  period.  Particular  lines  of  development  that  were  to 
dominate  the  industry  until  into  the  next  century  were 
clearly  manifest  and  all  else  was  giving  way  to  this  move¬ 
ment.  Many  things  contributed  to  bring  on  this  notable 
change  in  the  business  as  a  whole.  Machinery  had  dis- 
olaced  the  old  hand  process  that,  however  admirable  in 


270 


AN  ERA  OF  PROSPERITY 


results,  was  too  slow  for  modern  needs.  New  materials, 
straw,  manilla  and  wood,  had  come  in,  or  were  about  to 
come  in,  to  help  out  the  rag  situation.  Capital  was  re¬ 
covering  from  the  financial  panics  and  was  seeking  in¬ 
vestment.  Foreign  imports  had  not  increased  in  propor¬ 
tion  to  the  increase  in  population  and  home  needs. 
Transportation  facilities,  which  had  already  favorably 
affected  the  business  were  now  substantial  factors  in  it. 

More  than  ever  before  it  was  now  possible,  as  well  as 
desirable,  to  group  mills  in  localities  where  water  power, 
ready  availability  of  raw  material  and  accessibility  to 
markets  were  prime  considerations.  Already  for  these 
reasons  Berkshire  county  in  Massachusetts,  Hartford 
county  in  Connecticut,  Philadelphia,  Chester  and  Dela¬ 
ware  counties  in  Pennsylvania,  and  other  places,  were 
paper-manufacturing  centers  of  importance  and  were 
growing.  Jefferson,  Niagara  and  Columbia  counties  in 
New  York,  Holyoke  in  Massachusetts,  the  Miami  valley 
in  Ohio,  and  Indiana,  and  Wisconsin,  were  about  to 
be  added  to  the  list  of  places  where  branches  of  the  in¬ 
dustry  should  be  concentrated  with  many  mills  and  big, 
mills  and  on  an  unprecedented  scale  of  production.  The 
really  great  age  of  American  paper-manufacturing  was  in 
sight  although  not  fully  to  appear  for  half  a  century. 

According  to  the  census  of  1860  there  were  five  hundred 
and  fifty-five  paper  mills  in  twenty-four  states ;  Maine, 
New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massachussetts,  Rhode  Island, 
Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Iowa, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Georgia,  South 
Carolina,  North  Carolina  and  California.  In  New 
England  were  two  hundred  and  four  mills ;  in  the  middle 
states,  two  hundred  and  seventy-three ;  in  the  western 
states,  fifty-three ;  in  the  southern  states,  twenty-four,  and 
in  California,  one.  These  mills  had  a  capital  of 
$14,052,683,  employed  six  thousand  five  hundred  and 
nineteen  males  and  four  thousand  three  hundred  and 
ninety-two  females  and  had  an  annual  product  of 
$21,216,802  which  was  an  increase  of  more  than  one  hun- 


271 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


dred  per  cent,  upon  the  product  in  1850.  Of  the  total 
product,  amounting  to  253,778,240  pounds,  printing  paper 
was  131,508,000  pounds,  writing  22,268,000  pounds,  wrapn 
ping  33,379  tons,  and  lesser  quantities  of  colored,  bank¬ 
note,  wall  paper,  straw  board  and  other  specialties.  New 
England  produced  to  the  value  of  $10,502,069,  nearly 
one  half  of  the  whole  and  more  than  was  produced  in  the 
entire  United  States  in  1850.  Massachusetts  alone  re¬ 
ported  a  value  of  $6,170,127  as  against  $7,908,437  for  the 
five  middle  states.  About  sixty-five  per  cent  of  the  entire 
amount  of  paper-stock  came  from  domestic  rags  and 
twelve  per  cent,  from  cotton  waste,  rope  and  bagging. 
The  remainder  was  imported,  the  value  of  rags  imported 
for  1860  being  $1,540,224,  an  advance  of  $529,789  from 
1854  and  of  $791,517  from  1850.  The  paper  product  was 
greater  in  quantity  than  that  made  either  in  Great  Britain 
or  France  and  the  consumption  greater  than  the  consump¬ 
tion  in  both  those  countries  combined. 

A  unique  directory  was  made  in  1864  by  W.  A.  Brewer 
of  New  York  city.  It  was  simply  a  specially  prepared 
blank  book  in  which  the  information  was  written.  Man¬ 
uscript  copies  of  it  were  sold  to  subscribers  and  it  was 
the  first  attempt  at  a  directory  in  this  field.  The  title  was: 
Catalogue  of  Paper  Manufacturers  in  the  United  States, 
Territories,  Canada,  etc.,  with  the  Statistics  of  the  Mills, 
Compiled  from  Various  Sources,  1864..  A  preface  and  a 
table  of  contents  preceded  the  list  of  mills  which  were  ar¬ 
ranged  by  states.  Each  page  was  divided  into  eleven 
columns  the  headings  of  which  were:  names  of  mills  and 
proprietors  or  agents ;  town  or  city  where  located ;  de¬ 
scription  of  paper  manufactured;  engines,  running  time, 
cylinders,  Fourdrinier  machines ;  investment  or  capital 
employed  in  lands,  buildings,  machinery,  etc;  value  of 
annual  product ;  number  of  hands  employed ;  remarks.  In 
the  preface,  under  date  of  May,  1864,  Mr.  Brewer  said: 

“A  manuscript  catalogue  in  the  possession  of  a 
manufacturer  formed  the  basis  of  this.  But  _  the 
compiler  has  been  able  to  correct  and  make  additions 
to  the  addresses  of  mills  in  about  seventy  instances, 

272 


AN  ERA  OF  PROSPERITY 


and,  by  personal  interviews  and  correspondence  with 
the  proprietors  of  about  three  hundred  mills,  the  sta¬ 
tistics  have  been  corrected  and  added  to  in  about  five 
hundred  instances.  The  columns  denoting  the  invest¬ 
ment  in  lands,  buildings  and  machinery  and  the  value 
of  annual  product  constitute  an  original  feature,  so 
that  while  the  present  work  cannot  be  supposed  to  be 
entirely  perfect  it  may  be  fairly  considered  to  be  the 
most  accurate  catalogue  of  paper  manufacturers  and 
mills  now  extant.” 

Despite  its  many  inaccuracies  and  short-comings  this 
book,  undoubtedly,  then  served  its  purpose  for  the  trade 
very  well  indeed  and  to-day  it  is  exceedingly  interesting 
and  valuable  as  an  historical  document.  Substantially  it 
presents  an  account  of  the  industry  at  the  close  of  the 
civil  war,  such  as  could  not  now  be  derived  from  any 
other  sources.  According  to  Mr.  Brewer  there  were  then 
in  the  United  States,  paper-manufacturing  concerns  to 
the  number  of  eight  hundred  and  thirty-five,  distributed 
as  follows:  Maine,  sixteen;  New  Hampshire,  thirty-one; 
Vermont,  thirty-five;  Massachusetts,  one  hundred  and 
seventeen;  Connecticut,  seventy-eight;  New  York,  two 
hundred  and  twenty-three;  New  Jersey,  sixty-three; 
Delaware,  three ;  Pennsylvania,  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven;  Maryland,  thirty-eight;  Virginia,  twelve;  North 
Carolina,  two ;  South  Carolina,  four ;  Georgia,  two ;  Ten¬ 
nessee,  five ;  Kentucky,  two  ;  Ohio,  thirty-four ;  Michigan, 
seven ;  Indiana,  fifteen ;  Illlinois,  fifteen ;  Wisconsin, 
fifteen ;  Minnesota,  one. 

In  Maine  the  largest  concern  was  Grant,  Warren  &  Co., 
which  was  reported  as  having  three  Fourdrinier  machines, 
the  largest  sixty-eight  inches,  a  capital  of  $100,000,  an 
annual  product  of  $40,000  and  one  hundred  employees. 
A.  C.  Denison  &  Co.  was  listed  with  $100,000  capital  and 
$150,000  annual  output.  Other  concerns  were  in 
Mechanic  Falls,  Gardiner,  Vassalboro,  Hampden,  South 
Orrington,  Waterville,  Portland,  Belfast  and  Bloomfield. 
Among  them  were  Drake,  Dwinal  &  Co.,  Richards  & 
Hoskins,  James  Freeman  &  Co.,  George  F.  White  &  Co., 
Wm.  Russell  &  Son  and  J.  &  B.  Crosby  &  Co.,  strangely 

273 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


unfamiliar  names  a  half  century  later.  In  New  Hamp¬ 
shire  there  were  mills  in  Manchester,  Exeter,  Newmarket, 
Bennington,  Claremont,  Alstead,  Holderness,  Bristol, 
Franklin,  Peterboro,  Conway,  Brentwood  and  Haverhill. 
Only  five  of  these  thirteen  places  had  mills  fifty  years 
later.  Holderness,  for  example,  which  then  had  seven 
mills,  was  not  on  the  paper-trade  map  in  1916.  The  names 
of  all  the  thirty  concerns  listed  had  disappeared  from  the 
industry  by  that  time. 

Asa  Low  in  Bradford  was  the  leading  manufacturer  in 
Vermont.  He  had  ten  engines  and  three  cylinder  ma¬ 
chines,  thirty-two,  thirty-four  and  forty-two  inches  wide 
and  he  made  wrapping  and  printing  papers.  One  lone 
Fourdrinier  in  the  state  was  in  the  mill  of  G.  Benton  & 
Sons,  Bennington,  who  had  a  capital  of  $40,000,  employed 
thirty-six  hands  and  annually  produced  paper  to  the  value 
of  $60,000. 

In  the  Massachusetts  list  of  one  hundred  and  seventeen 
firms  we  come  upon  names  that  were  conspicuous  in  the 
annals  down  to  much  later  times  and  some  of  them  even 
into  the  opening  years  of  the  twentieth  century :  Crehore, 
Bird,  Tileston,  Rice,  Hollingsworth,  Russell,  Curtis, 
Crocker,  Burbank,  Wheelwright,  Smith,  Parsons,  South- 
worth,  Greenleaf,  Crane,  Carson,  Whitney,  Warren, 
Gould  and  Roberts.  And  the  principal  places  listed — 
Newton  Lower  Falls,  Walpole,  Lawrence,  Fitchburg, 
South  Hadley  Falls,  Dalton,  Lee,  Watertown,  Russell, 
Waltham,  Westfield,  North  Leominster,  Mittineague  and 
Holyoke  showed  that  the  industry  in  this  state  had  not 
abandoned  its  earlier  homes,  in  those  five  decades,  even 
though  it  had  also  over-flowed  into  other  localities.  All 
these  Massachusetts  mills  seem  to  have  been  busy  estab¬ 
lishments.  Most  of  them  were  credited  with  making  full 
time  while  some  of  them  were  running  twelve,  fourteen, 
fifteen  and  sixteen  hours  a  day. 

In  Connecticut  the  leading  mills  were  in  Manchester, 
Norwich,  Hartford,  East  Hartford,  Windsor  Locks, 
South  Manchester  and  Unionville  and  the  leading  manu¬ 
facturers  were  the  Chelsea  Manufacturing  Company,  N. 


274 


AN  ERA  OF  PROSPERITY 


H.  Plubbard  &  Co.,  George  Bunce  &  Co.,  Boswell,  Keeney 
&  Co.,  W.  &  E.  Bunce  &  Sons,  Goodwin  &  Sheldon, 
Persee  &  Brooks,  C.  H.  Dexter,  Converse,  Chapman  & 
Burbank,  Plainer  &  Porter,  and  Case  Brothers. 

In  New  York  state  many  of  the  mills  reported  were 
engaged  in  making  paper  from  straw,  especially  in  Colum¬ 
bia  county  where,  in  the  town  of  Chatham  alone,  there 
were  fourteen  mills.  Troy  had  six  manufacturers,  Milton 
five,  Ballston  Spa  six.  Little  Falls  seven  and  Watertown 
three.  Nearly  all  the  machines  used  were  of  the  cylinder 
type,  only  seventeen  Fourdriniers  being  reported  for  the 
state.  Among  the  products  were  writing,  straw-wrapping, 
strawboards,  card,  bonnet-boards  and  printings. 

Paper-mills  in  New  Jersey  were  then  in  Morristown, 
Chatham,  Bloomfield,  Millburn,  Springfield,  New  Pros¬ 
pect,  Belleville  and  Trenton,  only  Morristown,  Bloomfield 
and  Millburn  having  lasted  out  the  century  as  paper¬ 
manufacturing  localities  and  that  too  in  minor  rank. 
Singularly,  with  less  than  one-third  the  number  of  firms 
in  the  business.  New  Jersey  had  nearly  as  many  Four¬ 
driniers  at  work  as  New  York,  thirteen  as  against  seven¬ 
teen  ;  but  still  most  of  the  machines  were  cylinders. 

The  three  concerns  listed  in  Delaware  were  Curtis  & 
Brother  and  R.  Lysle  in  Newark  and  Jessup  &  Moore  in 
Wilmington,  but  that  omitted  the  ancient  Sunny  Dale  mill 
of  Francis  Tempest  in  Beaver  Valley.  The  Curtis,  the 
Jessup  &  Moore  and  the  Sunny  Dale  establishments  have 
endured  until  1916.  In  Maryland  the  majority  of  the 
mills  were  in  Elkton,  Union  Meeting  House  and  Freeland. 

Only  the  names  of  the  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
firms  in  Pennsylvania  were  given,  and  their  locations. 
Foremost  among  these  were  J.  M.  Dowdie,  Thomas  K. 
Amies,  J.  Duckett,  J.  M.  Willcox  &  Co.,  E.  C.  &  P.  H. 
Warren,  Joseph  Stilwagon  and  Martin  C.  Nixon  of 
Philadelphia;  Givins  &  Brown,  Robinson  &  Co.,  W.  B. 
Mullen  and  S.  &  I.  Lagg  of  Papertown;  S.  B.  &  C.  P. 
Markle  and  S.  &  P.  Markle  of  West  Newton;  Wolff  & 
Heyser,  William  &  J.  Heyser,  Jacob  Heyser,  Lambert  & 
Hubert  and  Stauffer,  Strickles  &  Co.  in  Chambersburg ; 


275 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


D.  E.  Mead. 

J.  Howard  Lewis  and  - - -  IMatthews  in  Darby ;  Kempton 

&  IMullin  and  Mullin  &  Son  in  Mt.  Holly  Springs ;  Martin 
Nixon,  Joseph  Duckett  and  Finour  &  Nixon  in  Manayunk. 
This  list,  both  as  to  names  of  firms  and  localities,  is  quite 
as  noteworthy  for  its  omissions  as  for  those  included  in  it. 

In  Ohio  paper-making  had  been  going  on  slowly  since 
its  beginning  before  the  middle  of  the  century,  but  the 
industry  there  did  not  assume  large  proportions  until 
about  the  time  of  the  civil  war  and  after.  In  the  Miami 
valley,  paper  was  made  in  one  lone  mill  about  1840.  Lo¬ 
cated  on  the  Miami  river  near  Hamilton  it  was  known 
by  the  name  of  its  owner  and  operator,  Thomas  Graham.. 
The  mill  was  run  by  water-power  and  had  a  varied  prod¬ 
uct,  ruled  and  unruled  writing,  printing,  white  and  blue 
lined  bonnet  boards,  and  wrappings. 

In  1848  the  Dayton  Paper  Mills  were  started  by  Ellis, 
Claflin  &  Co.  In  1856,  W.  A.  MAston,  J.  L.  Weston  and 


276 


AN  ERA  OF  PROSPERITY 


D.E.Mead,  as  Weston  &  Mead,  bought  the  property  which, 
as  time  went  on,  was  owned  by  Mead  &  Weston,  Mead  & 
Nixon,  the  Mead  &  Nixon  Paper  Company  and  the  Mead 
Paper  Company,  Colonel  Mead  being  in  all  these  years 
the  dominant  spirit  in  the  business  until  his  death  in  1891. 
Charles  D.  j\Iead  succeeded  his  father  and  the  concern, 
until  after  1900,  operated  the  mills  in  Dayton  and  pulp 
and  paper  mills  in  Chillicothe.  For  years  the  Dayton  mill 
manufactured  news,  but  the  later  product  was  book  paper. 
It  was  one  of  the  first  mills  in  the  west  to  make  chemical 
wood  pulp.  In  1900,  a  soda  pulp  mill  was  run  in  connec¬ 
tion  with  the  Chillicothe  plant. 

A.  E.  Harding  with  George  H.  Irwin  and  Abram  Upp, 
under  the  name  of  Harding,  Irwin  &  Co.,  built  a  mill, 
which  they  called  the  Excello,  on  the  Erie  canal  near 
Middletown,  equipped  it  with  a  sixty-two  inch  machine 
and  started  running  in  November.  1865.  making,  they 


PAPER  .MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  ST.\TES 


=  ^  Thomas  Beckett. 

claimed,  the  first  writing  paper  west  of  the  Allegheny 
mountains.  In  1873  the  Harding  Paper  Company  was 
organized  and  a  mill  built  in  Franklin.  With  the  usual 
accompaniment  of  disasters  by  fire  these  mills  continued 
to  be  operated  by  the  Harding  Paper  Company,  making 
writing,  until  in  the  next  century  when  (1916)  they  were 
a  division  of  the  American  Writing  Paper  Company. 

In  Dayton  a  board  mill  was  built  in  1863  by  William 
Clarke  and  Calvin  L.  Hawes — the  Clarke  &  Hawes  Com¬ 
pany  and,  in  1872,  after  the  death  of  J\Ir.  Clatke,  the  C. 
L,  Hawes  Company.  It  had  four  machines  capable  of 
producing,  annually,  about  one  thousand  and  two  hundred 
tons,  valued  at  $90,000.  Forty  years  later,  having  be¬ 
come  part  of  the  American  Straw  Board  Company,  it  was 
equipped  with  eight  machines  and  nineteen  engines  and 
had  a  capacity  of  eight-five  thousand  pounds  in  twenty- 
four  hours :  but  it  was  idle. 


278 


AN  ERA  OF  PROSPERITY 


William  Beckett  and  Thomas  P.  Rigdon  started  a  mill 
in  Hamilton,  in  1849,  where  the  first  Fourdrinier  in  Ohio 
was  put  in.  Adam  Laurie  was  the  manager  and  in  1854 
he  secured  an  interest  in  the  concern  which  became 
Beckett  &  Laurie.  Thomas  Beckett  and  Adam  Laurie  Jr. 
entered  the  firm  in  1885  and  two  years  later  the  Laurie 
interests  were  purchased  by  the  Becketts  and  the  Beckett 
Paper  Company  was  incorporated,  so  remaining  into  the 
next  century. 

Other  enterprises  in  the  Miami  Valley  during  the  last 
half  of  the  century  were :  that  of  Rutledge  &  Co.,  built  in 
Dayton,  before  the  war,  afterward  the  property  of  the 
Columbia  Straw  Company ;  the  Levis  of  Dayton ;  the 
Nixon  paper  and  bag  factory  of  Dayton  and  Richmond, 
Ind. :  the  George  H.  Friend  mills  in  Lockland  and  Car¬ 
rollton  :  the  William  Levis  mill  in  Miamisburg,  after  1890 


Adam  Laurie. 
279 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


owned  by  the  Friend  Paper  Company;  the  second  Levis 
mill  in  Miamisburg,  the  beginning  of  the  Ohio  Paper  Com¬ 
pany  ;  the  Franklin  Paper  Company,  the  Friend  and 
Forgy  Paper  Company,  and  the  Eagle  Paper  Company  of 
Franklin;  the  Erwin,  McGuire  and  Kline  mill  and  the 
Snider  mills  in  Hamilton,  1853-93 ;  the  Wrenn  Paper 
Company,  the  Wardlow-Thomas  Paper  Company,  the 
Oglesby  Paper  Company,  the  Tytus  Paper  Company,  the 
Colin  Gardner  Paper  Company  and  the  Middletown  Pa¬ 
per  Company  of  Middletown ;  the  Champion  Coated 
Paper  Mills  which,  started  in  1895  by  Peter  G.  Thomson, 
became,  in  a  few  years,  the  most  imposing  establishment 
of  its  kind  in  the  country.  And  the  list  could  be  further 
extended  without  exhausting  the  record.  Some  of  these 
mills  had  short  and  troublesome  existence ;  others  became 
substantial  and  profitable,  the  main  stay  of  the  industry 
in  this  region  in  contemporaneous  times. 

The  first  known  mill  in  Wisconsin  was  built  in  1846  or 
1848  by  Ludington  &  Garland  in  Milwaukee.  It  was  a 
four-story  brick  structure  that  cost  $10,000,  contained  two 
engines  and  a  cylinder  machine,  was  operated  by  steam 
and  ran  on  printing  and  wrapping.  In  1849  the  mill  was 
owned  by  D.  Cameron  who  had  ten  employees  with  a  pay 
roll  of  forty  dollars  a  week  and  produced  weekly  about 
one  hundred  and  ten  reams  of  paper,  sufficient,  it  was 
claimed,  “to  supply  the  entire  press  of  the  state,”  besides 
sending  some  to  the  market  in  Chicago.  After  a  few  years 
this  mill  was  dismantled,  the  machinery  being  sold  to 
Noonan  &  McNab,  who  build  a  new  mill  at  Humboldt. 
This  was  equipped  with  two  engines  and  a  forty-two-inch 
cylinder,  and  was  operated  until  about  1867. 

Ernest  Prieger  built  a  mill  in  1855  on  the  Menomonee 
river ;  it  lasted  for  nearly  twenty  years,  being  at  one  time 
owned  by  Noonan  &  McNab.  Another  mill  was  built  in 
Milwaukee  in  1864  by  Alexander  Mills,  and  was  run  for 
about  two  years  when  it  was  destroyed  by  an  explosion. 

Stephen  D.  Cone  ;  Concise  History  of  Hamilton,  Ohio,  (1901), 
I.,  386,  397;  II.,  283-90,  332.  The  Paper  Trade  Journal,  October 
16,  1897,  pp.  92-96. 


280 


AN  ERA  OF  PROSPERITY 


In  the  Fox  river  region  Appleton  had  its  first  mill  in 
1853  built  by  the  two  Richmond  brothers  and  run  on 
wrapping  until  it  was  burned  in  1860.  About  the  same 
time  the  Kehlors  built  a  mill  in  Waterford,  but  the  plant 
was  abandoned  later.  At  Beloit,  in  1855,  Wright,  Merrill 
&  Newcombe  erected  a  mill  with  two  engines  and  a  forty- 
two-inch  cylinder  to  make  news.  This  was  afterward 
owned  by  the  Rocky  River  Paper  Company.  A  second 
mill  was  built  at  Beloit  in  1857.  Another  mill  was  created 
by  Merrill  out  of  a  saw-mill  and  these  three  mills  finally 
became  the  property  of  the  Beloit  Straw  Board  Company. 
Another  early  concern  in  Beloit  was  F.  N.  Davis  &  Co., 
who  ran  a  mill  on  specialties,  one  of  which  was  a  rye  straw- 
board  for  floor  covering.  In  Whitewater,  between  1857 
and  1860,  J.  H.  Crombie  built  a  mill  and  for  ten  years 
operated  it  on  printing  and  tea  papers,  its  daily  capacity 
being  three  and  one-half  tons.  Denison  &  Turner  were 
later  owners  of  this  mill,  increasing  its  capacity  and  de¬ 
voting  it  to  straw  wrapping.  Before  1872  or  thereabout, 
other  manufacturers  were  J.  L.  Mathers  in  Sparta  and 
George  Hunter  and  Nightingale,  Bosworth  &  Co.  in  Fond 
du  Lac.  Two  pulp  mills  were  started  in  Appleton,  one 
by  Bradner  Smith  &  Co.  of  Chicago  and  the  other  by  the 
Ames  Wood  Pulp  Company.  Together  they  had  a  daily 
output  of  eight  thousand  pounds  of  dry  pulp  which  was  a 
large  product  for  that  time. 

The  first  mill  in  Neenah  was  built  in  1865-66  by  a  small 
stock  company  composed  of  Hiram  and  Edward  Smith, 
Dr.  N.  S.  Robinson,  John  Jamison,  Moses  Hooper  and 
Nathan  Cobb.  The  building  that  was  used  was  known  as 
“the  old  red  Neenah  mill”  and  manufacturing  was  carried 
on  successfully  under  different  management  for  nearly 
ten  years.  Colonel  Haynes,  one  of  the  pioneer  paper- 
makers  of  Wisconsin,  controlled  the  mill,  which  ultimately 
came  into  possession  of  the  Kimberly  &  Clark  Company. 
At  first  this  mill  made  from  two  thousand  five  hundred  to 
three  thousand  pounds  of  paper  a  day.  In  1870  the  Chi¬ 
cago  Tribune  noted  that  the  company  “received  an  order 
for  ten  tons  of  paper  for  the  Tribune,  made  the  order  and 

281 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


Thomas  Howard. 


shipped  it  inside  of  sixty  hours.”  These  were  the  begin¬ 
nings,  small,  indeed,  of  paper-manufacturing  in  Wiscon¬ 
sin.  They  bear  little  comparison  to  the  status  to  which 
the  industry  attained  before  the  end  of  the  century.*®^ 

In  November,  1851,  the  first  attempt  to  build  a  paper-mill 
in  Utah  was  made.  This  project  was  started  on  Mill  creek 
near  Salt  Lake  city  by  Thomas  Howard  and  Sydney  Rob¬ 
erts,  but  was  abandoned  in  a  few  months,  after  the  mill 
race  and  the  pit  for  the  water-wheel  had  been  built.  In 
the  following  year  Howard  and  Thomas  Hollis  arranged 
with  Brigham  Young  to  utilize  machinery  that  had  been 
intended  for  a  beet  sugar  factory.  They  converted  the 

Publius  V.  Lawson :  Paper-Making  in  Wisconsin.  In  Pro¬ 
ceedings  of  the  State  Historical  Society  for  Wisconsin,  (1909),  pp. 
273-280.  The  Paper  Trade  Journal,  October  16,  1897,  p.  37. 


282 


AN  ERA  OF  PROSPERITY 


beet  grinder  into  an  eighty-pound  rag-engine  and  availed 
themselves  of  water-power  on  Temple  Block  in  Salt  Lake 
city.  Years  afterward  Mr.  Howard  wrote  the  story  of 
their  operations.-^® 

In  June,  1854,  they  were  able  to  begin  the  manufacture 
of  paper  by  hand,  the  first  to  be  made  west  of  the  Missouri 
river.  But  the  experiment  lasted  only  six  months,  for  the 
sugar  factory  demanded  its  machinery  and  the  paper-mill 
was  closed.  In  1860  Brigham  Young  purchased  a  cylinder 
machine  and  Howard  was  engaged  to  convert  the  old 
sugar-mill  into  a  paper-mill  where  he  began  making  paper 
by  machinery  in  the  following  year.  In  1863  this  mill  was 
succeeded  by  the  Granite  mill  built  near  Salt  Lake  City 
and  equipped  with  a  Fourdriner  and  other  modern 
machinery.  The  Granite  mill  continued  operations  until 
1893  when  it  was  burned. 

In  the  years  immediately  following  the  civil  war  paper 
manufacturing  in  Holyoke,  Mass.,  advanced  rapidly. 
Charles  O.  Chapin  and  James  Kirkham  organized  the 
Riverside  Paper  Company  in  1866  and  in  the  following 
year  built  a  mill,  which,  after  1871,  was  owned  by  L.  J. 
Powers  and  J.  H.  Appleton.  In  1892  a  second  mill  was 
added  to  the  plant  and  subsequently  a  third.  The  Frank¬ 
lin  Paper  Company,  also  organized  in  1866,  had  Calvin 
Taft  as  president,  and  his  son-in-law,  James  H.  Newton, 
as  treasurer  and  agent.  It  was  run  on  collar-paper,  but 
after  paper  collars  went  out  of  fashion  it  made  bristol 
board.  The  Albion  Paper  Company  was  organized  in 

1869  and  purchased  the  mill  of  the  Hampden  Paper  Com¬ 
pany,  bililt  in  1862  by  the  Newton  Brothers  and  run  by 
them  on  collar-paper.  Afterward,  in  1878  and  in  1879, 
the  Albion  Company  built  new  mills  larger  and  better 
equipped,  to  run  on  book  and  later  on  writing.  The 
Union  Paper  Manufacturing  Company  was  organized  in 

1870  by  Henry  and  Edward  Dickinson,  J.  E.  Taylor  and 
D.  D.  Warren.  The  company  began  work  in  the  mill 
which  they  purchased  from  the  Bemis  Paper  Company, 
an  older  concern,  and  continued  in  business  until  1888, 

'“The  Paper  Trade  Journal,  October  16,  1897,  p.  106. 

283 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


when  it  became  the  Connecticut  River  Paper  Company. 
Jared  Beebe  started  in  business  in  1871  as  the  Hampden 
Paper  Company,  making  fine  writing.  Presently  he  was 
joined  by  George  B.  Holbrook  under  the  firm  name  of 
Beebe  &  Holbrook,  the  business  being  incorporated  in 
1878,  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Beebe  in  1876,  with  Mr.  Hol¬ 
brook  as  president  and  treasurer. 

Other  Holyoke  concerns  in  the  closing  quarter  of  the 
century  were  the  Chemical  Paper  Company,  1880;  the 
Nonotuck  Paper  Company,  1880;  the  George  R.  Dickinson 
Paper  Company,  1882 ;  the  George  C.  Gill  Company,  1891 ; 
the  Norman  Paper  Company,  1891 ;  the  Linden  Paper 
Company,  1892 ;  the  Winona  Paper  Company,  1892 ;  the 
Syms  &  Dudley  Company,  and  Newton  &  Ramage,  1873, 
which  was  succeeded  by  the  Newton  Paper  Company  in 
1876.  Some  of  the  noteworthy  mills  of  this  period  were 
the  Wauregan,  built  by  J.  N.  Newton  in  1879;  the  Valley, 
built  in  1864,  for  the  Valley  Paper  Company,  founded  by 
David  M.  Butterfield ;  the  Holyoke  manilla,  managed, 
after  1875,  by  Robertson,  Black  &  Co. ;  the  Excelsior,  built 
in  1872,  by  D.  H.  &  J.  C.  Newton,  and  sold  to  J.  B.  War¬ 
ren,  R.  C.  Dickinson,  George  R.  Dickinson  and  A.  N.  Mayo. 
Holyoke  had  a  pulp  mill  in  1876  owned  by  the  Connecti¬ 
cut  River  Pulp  Mill  Company,  which  m.ade  four  tons  of 
soda  pulp  a  day. 

In  1873  Holyoke,  twenty  years  after  the  first  mill  was 
built  there,  had  fifteen  mills  operated  by  fourteen  concerns. 
The  daily  capacity  of  these  mills  was  forty-eight  and  one- 
half  tons.  Twenty-five  years  later,  1897,  the  “paper  city” 
had  twenty-one  concerns  operating  twenty-six  mills  with 
a  daily  capacity  of  three  hundred  and  seventeen  tons.  In 
1873  the  fifteen  mills  had  three  cylinder  machines  and 
sixteen  Fourdriniers.  In  1897  the  twenty-six  mills  had 
six  cylinders  and  fifty-three  Fourdriniers.  To  carry  the 
comparison  still  further,  in  1916,  sixty-three  years  after 
the  first  Parsons  mill,  Holyoke  had  twenty-seven  mills, 
operated  by  twenty-two  concerns.  In  these  mills  there 
were  six  cylinders  and  fifty  Fourdriniers.  The  daily  ca¬ 
pacity  of  these  mills  was  four  hundred  and  fifty  tons,  and 


284 


AN  ERA  OF  PROSPERITY 


their  product,  while  largely  writing,  envelope,  book,  bond, 
linen  and  ledger,  included  besides  nearly  every  conceivable 
kind  of  paper,  except  news  and  straw  board. 

Heavy  increase  in  the  consumption  of  paper,  especially 
all  kinds  of  book  and  news,  was  a  feature  of  two  or  three 
decades  immediately  preceding  the  civil  war,  yet  Ameri¬ 
can  manufacturers  were  able  mostly  to  meet  the  demand. 
The  protective  policy  of  the  national  government  which 
had  placed  duties  on  paper,  changeable,  it  is  true,  but  gen¬ 
erally  high,  had  worked  to  the  exclusion  of  importations 
except  French  writing  papers,  and  that  notwithstanding 
capital  and  labor  were  cheaper  in  Europe  than  in  this 
country.  In  1789  the  duty  was  seven  and  one-half  per 
cent,  ad  valorem;  in  1816,  thirty  per  cent. ;  in  1828,  from 
ten  to  twenty  cents  a  pound ;  between  1825  and  1845,  re¬ 
duced  ;  in  1846,  thirty  per  cent. ;  in  1857,  twenty-four  per 
cent. ;  in  1862,  thirty  per  cent.  Rags  generally  had  always 
been  admitted  free  of  duty. 

In  1854  there  was  a  rise  of  two  and  one-half  cents  a 
pound  for  news.  Publishers  of  newspapers  were  dis¬ 
mayed,  and,  as  was  the  case,  more  than  sixty  years  later — 
in  1916 — -they  complained  loudly  against  the  increased 
price  and  the  scarcity.  Many  of  them  felt  compelled  to 
raise  their  price  or  reduce  the  size  of  their  papers.  The 
Nezv  York  Tribune  reduced  to  its  former  size;  The  Nezv 
York  Sun  reduced  size;  The  Philadelphia  Evening  Regis¬ 
ter  discontinued  publication.  At  that  time  publishers  of 
The  Nezv  York  Times  protested  that  it  was  costing  them 
sixty  thousand  dollars  a  year  for  paper,  and  The  Nezv 
York  Journal  of  Commerce  was  paying  from  forty  thou¬ 
sand  dollars  to  fifty  thousand  dollars  a  year. 

Naturally  the  rise  in  prices  attracted  fresh  capital  into 
the  business.  New  mills  and  big  mills  were  built  and  the 
old  mills  were  expanded ;  for  a  time  even  they  were  run 
night  and  day,  a  custom  that  had  not  before  been  known. 
Soon  business  was  overdone,  the  market  was  overstocked, 
and  a  feveri.sh  competition  set  in  that  sent  prices  tumbling 
down  below  the  point  of  profit.  Often  actual  loss  resulted 
and  not  a  few  mills  were  compelled  to  close.  The  situa- 


285 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


tion  became  serious  and  various  plans  were  proposed  to 
meet  it.  Manufacturers  of  fine  writing  met  in  Pittsfield, 
Mass.,  in  February,  1861,  representatives  of  twenty-one 
of  the  thirty-six  mills  in  the  country  being  present.  A 
protective  association  was  formed  and  it  was  decided  that 
for  three  months  from  the  first  of  March  production 
should  be  curtailed  one-third.  But  the  firing  upon  Fort 
Sumter  in  April  changed  everything  in  the  twinkling  of 
an  eye.  From  that  time  on  prices  went  up  and  up,  and 
the  mills  had  plenty  to  do. 

Early  in  1862  ordinary  printing  paper  was  selling  for 
nine  cents  and  eight  cents  net  cash  a  pound.  Manufac¬ 
turers  agreed  to  increase  the  price,  with  the  result  that 
news  went  to  seventeen  cents  cash  and  twenty-two  cents 
before  the  end  of  the  year.  Manufacturers  of  fine  writing 
took  similar  action  and  raised  prices  from  thirteen  and 
fourteen  cents  to  seventeen  cents  for  fine  writing  and  from 
fifteen  to  twenty-five  cents  for  letter  and  note  paper. 
Within  a  few  months  all  writing  papers  were  forty  cents 
a  pound  and  No.  1  printing  thirty  cents.  In  1864  news 
was  selling  for  twenty-eight  cents  and  fine  book  for  forty- 
five  cents.  Presently  news  fell  off  eight  cents  a  pound 
and  some  contracts  were  made  at  eighteen  cents,  a  price 
that  was  considered  heart-breakingly  low.  But  compare 
that  with  1916  prices  for  news.  Then  Congress  was 
memorialized  to  remove  the  duty  on  paper.  And  how 
much  that  sounds  like  1916.  Stock  was  scarce.  Waste 
paper  commanded  eight  cents  a  pound  and  thousands  of 
tons  of  old  books  and  newspapers,  school  and  account 
books,  correspondence  and  business  papers  went  to  the 
mills.  And  still  the  price  of  white  paper  kept  well  up. 

In  1863  William  Plainer,  of  Plainer  &  Porter,  of  Union- 
ville.  Conn.,  drew  up  a  carefully  itemized  estimate  of  the 
cost  of  running  a  mill  to  make  eighteen  hundred  pounds 
of  writing  paper  a  day.  The  total  was  $528.26,  and  from 
this  it  appeared  that  the  average  cost  of  paper  at  the  mill 
at  that  time  was  twenty-nine  and  one-half  cents  per  pound, 
while  the  paper  was  bringing  from  forty  to  fifty  cents. 

^The  Paper  Trade  Journal,  October  16,  1897,  p.  114. 

286 


AN  ERA  OF  PROSPERITY 


Prices  in  New  York  for  January,  1865,  according  to  a 


list  then  published,  were : 

Note  paper,  first  class .  55  to  60  cents 

Note  paper,  good .  50  to  55  “ 

Note  paper,  common .  45  to  50  “ 

Letters  and  foolscaps,  first  class .  50  to  55  “ 

Letters  and  foolscaps,  second  class .  45  to  50  “ 

Letters  and  foolscaps,  common . . 40  to  45  “ 

Flat  caps  and  folios,  first  class .  45  to  48  “ 

Flat  caps  and  folios,  second  class . 40  to  44  “ 

Flat  caps  and  folios,  common .  35  to  40  “ 

Common  news,  straw,  etc .  20  to  22  “ 

Good  news,  rag .  22  to  25  “ 

Fair  white  book .  25  to  28  “ 

Extra  book  .  28  to  32  “ 

Sized  and  calendered  book .  30  to  33  “ 

Extra  sized  and  calendered  book .  35  to  40  “  _ 

Manilla  wrapping  .  18  to  20  “ 


In  1866  fine  book  paper,  which  could  have  been  bought 
before  the  war  for  sixteen  cents  a  pound  on  six  months’ 
time,  had  risen  to  forty  cents  cash.  Publishing  houses 
of  New  York  and  Boston  bought  in  the  European  mar¬ 
kets  because  they  could  save  twenty-five  per  cent.  The 
Harper  Brothers  imported  from  Belgium  and  Ticknor  & 
Fields,  of  Boston,  from  England. 

A  card  issued  in  1867  gave  ream  prices  as  follows ; 


14 

lb. 

cap  . 

.  $6.30 

$5.95 

12 

cap  and  letter . 

.  5.40 

5.10 

10 

cap  and  letter . 

.  4.50 

4.25 

9 

letter  . 

.  4.05 

3.83y2 

8 

(i 

letter  . 

.  3.60 

3.40 

7 

<( 

letter  . 

.  3.15 

2.97 

6 

note  and  bath . 

.  3.00 

2.85 

5 

i( 

note  and  bath . 

.  2.50 

2.3714 

4 

« 

note  and  bath . 

.  2.00 

1.90 

5 

fi 

octavo  . 

.  2.75 

2.62J4 

3H 

<< 

octavo  . 

.  2.11 

2.03 

2M 

(i 

billet  . 

.  1.52 

1.46 

287 


CHAPTER  FOURTEEN 

MODERN  EXPANSION 


Mills  Increased  in  Number  and  in  Size  in  All  Parts 
OF  THE  United  States — Machinery  Expansion— 
The  Rise  of  Big  Corporations — New  Men,  New 
Metfiods  and  New  Accomplishments — Growth 
OF  Foreign  Trade — Exporting  is  Begun  in  Com¬ 
petition  FOR  THE  Markets  of  the  World 

IN  contemporaneous  times  several  things  stand  out  con¬ 
spicuously  in  the  history  of  the  paper  industry.  Dur¬ 
ing  the  closing  years  of  the  last  and  the  opening  years 
of  the  present  century  there  was  remarkable  expansion 
in  many  ways.  Bigger  mills  were  built,  bigger  and  better 
machinery  put  into  them  and  improved  methods  of  manu¬ 
facture  introduced.  The  industry  was  established  in  new 
places  and,  more  than  ever  before,  was  concentrated  in 
particular  localities  on  large  scale. 

By  the  perfecting  of  the  wood-pulp  processes,  an  over¬ 
whelming  increase  in  output  resulted  and  a  corresponding 
demand  for  paper  was  developed.  Also  wood-pulp  made 
possible  the  multiplying  of  the  kinds  of  paper  and  the 
manufactures  therefrom  to  an  extent  that  could  not  have 
been  imagined  a  half  century  before.  Pulp-making  be¬ 
came  almost  an  independent  branch  of  the  industry,  ex¬ 
panding  into  a  business  of  great  dimensions  and  serving 
many  lines  of  manufacture  quite  aside  from  that  of  purely 
paper  making.  Foreign  trade  began  to  be  a  matter  for 
serious  consideration.  Exports,  which  in  the  past  had  been 
almost  negligible,  assumed  encouraging  proportions. 

A  clear  idea  of  the  steady  and  substantial  growth  of  the 
industry  in  the  years  immediately  following  the  close  of 

288 


MODERN  EXPANSION 


the  civil  war  is  exhibited  in  statistics  that  may  be  drawn 
from  the  various  census  reports  of  the  United  States, 
from  Lockzvood’s  Directory  and  from  The  Paper  Trade 
Journal.  Census  statistics  are  more  or  less  confusing  and 
unsatisfactory.  Work  in  the  census  bureau  has  never  been 
standardized  and  its  results  are  only  approximately  cor¬ 
rect.  Each  successive  director  of  the  census  has  his  own 
ideas,  different  from  his  predecessors,  how  the  work  should 
be  done,  and  therefore  in  many  particulars  it  is  difficult 
and  sometimes  impossible  to  make  dependable  compari¬ 
sons  of  one  period  with  another  by  using  those  figures. 
Several  examples  will  suffice  so  far  as  the  paper  industry 
is  concerned.  Before  wood-pulp  was  known  all  census 
statistics  related,  of  course,  solely  to  paper-mills.  In  the 
censuses  of  1870,  1880  and  1890  the  wood-pulp  mills  were 
reported  separately.  In  1900  and  1910  paper  and  wood- 
pulp  were  combined  in  the  returns.  Sometimes  manufac¬ 
tures,  as  paper-boxes  and  the  like,  are  included  as  paper- 
mills  and  sometimes  not.  In  recent  censuses  it  has  been 
the  custom  to  enumerate  establishments  instead  of  the  in¬ 
dividual  mills  where  several  mills  are  in  one  plant  under 
one  corporate  or  firm  ownership.  Therefore  the  census 
fails  to  give  the  actual  number  of  mills.  With  due  allow¬ 
ances,  however,  the  statistics  are  unquestionably  valuable. 

In  the  years  between  1860  and  1870,  especially  in  the 
latter  part  of  that  decade,  considerable  development  took 
place  in  the  value  of  production  with  only  a  small  addition 
to  the  number  of  mills.  According  to  the  census  of 
1870,  six  hundred  and  seventy-seven  mills  existing  in  1869, 
had  a  capital  of  $34,556,014,  employed  17,910  persons  and 
annually  produced  paper  to  the  value  of  $48,849,285.  The 
mills  were  in  thirty-one  states  and  the  District  of  Colum¬ 
bia;  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Massachusetts  and  Con¬ 
necticut  still  predominating,  with  four  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  mills,  and  $35,861,791  value  of  production.  Ohio  came 
fifth  in  rank  with  forty-four  mills  and  annual  production  of 
$4,010,483. 

During  the  next  ten  years  the  number  of  establish¬ 
ments  increased  to  seven  hundred  and  forty-two,  with  capi¬ 
tal  $48,139,652,  number  of  employees  25,631,  and  value  of 

289 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


product  $57,366,860.  These  mills  were  in  twenty-nine 
states  and  the  District  of  Columbia.  Out  of  the  total 
number  New  York,  Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania  and  Con¬ 
necticut,  in  the  order  named,  had  the  largest  number, 
four  hundred  and  seven,  with  annual  production  of  $33,- 
405,937.  Ohio  came  next  with  sixty  mills  and  production 
value  of  $5,108,194.  The  total  daily  capacity  in  tons  for 
1881  was:  all  kinds  of  paper,  2,266,  chemical  fibre,  1,297, 
ground  wood,  3,844.  For  1897-8,  the  totals  in  tons  were : 
paper  6,675,  chemical  fibre,  1,725,  ground  wood,  3,225. 

In  1890  there  was,  by  the  census  returns,  a  drop  in 
the  number  of  establishments  reported,  to  six  hundred  and 
forty-nine  in  thirty-one  states  and  territories.  But,  in  a 
lesser  number  of  mills  than  in  1870,  more  capital  was  in¬ 
vested,  more  people  were  employed  and  the  value  of  prod¬ 
uct  was  larger,  the  figures  being:  capital,  $89,829,540; 
employees,  31,050;  product,  $78,937,184.  This  showed 
expansion  of  the  business  as  a  whole  and  a  greater  expan¬ 
sion  in  the  average  per  individual  establishment.  The 
bulk  of  the  industry  was  in  New  York,  Massachusetts, 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  in  the  order  named,  with  three 
hundred  and  thirty-five  establishments  and  annual  product 
$49,767,674.  Connecticut  came  fifth  in  the  list  Avith  forty- 
two  mills  and  annual  product  of  $3,556,257.  Oregon  and 
West  Virginia  each  had  two  establishments  and  Kansas, 
Kentucky,  Minnesota,  Missouri  and  Utah  one  each. 

In  the  census  of  1900,  seven  hundred  and  sixty-three 
establishments,  reported  for  1899,  had  a  capital  of  $167,- 
507,713,  wage  earners,  49,646,  and  value  of  annual  product, 
$127,326,162,  an  increase  of  nearly  eighty-seven  per  cent, 
in  capital  invested  and  over  sixty  per  cent,  in  value  of 
annual  product  since  1889.  At  the  same  time  twenty-nine 
establishments,  having  capital  of  $4,326,629,  Avere  reported 
idle.  News-print  in  rolls  amounted  to  45r'.000  tons, 
valued  at  $15,775,000,  the  average  cost  being  $34.62>^  and 
selling  price  $50  to  $60  per  ton.  Book-paper  amounted  to 
282,000  tons,  valued  at  $19,467,000,  the  average  cost  at 
the  mill  being  $69.03  per  ton.  Fine  writing  amounted 
to  90,000  tons,  valued  at  $12,223,000,  the  average  cost  per 
ton  at  the  mill  being  $135.81.  Other  figures  were: 


290 


MODERN  EXPANSION 


manilla  wrapping,  89,000  tons,  value,  $5,930,000;  heavy 
wrapping,  83,000  tons,  value,  $4,143,000;  straw  wrapping, 
92,000  tons,  value,  $2,028,000 ;  bogus  wood  manilla,  204,000 
tons,  value,  $9,149,000. 

Foreign  trade  assumed  larger  propertions  in  this  period 
than  ever  before.  We  had  been  importers  of  paper  and 
its  manufactures  from  the  colonial  and  early  republic  time, 
the  amount  and  the  value  of  such  importations  showing 
many  fluctuations,  year  by  year,  but  generally  on  the  in¬ 
crease.  Rags  and  other  paper  stock  had  always  been 
imported  from  the  time  that  domestic  mills,  in  their  needs, 
had  outgrown  the  domestic  supplies  in  raw  materials. 
Now  our  imports  of  stock  were  keeping  up  and  also  our 
imports  of  paper  and  its  manufactures,  while  our  exports 
were  beginning  to  show  more  strength. 

In  1848  we  exported  to  the  value  of  $78,507  while  import 
values  were  $415,668.  In  1852  exports  were  valued  at 
$119,535  and  in  the  following  year  at  $122,212.  During 
the  civil  war  and  for  several  years  after,  paper  imports 
amounted  to  from  one  to  three  million  dollars  annually. 
But  soon  this  large  importation  began  to  fall  off.  Cheap 
news  and  book-paper,  which  we  had  been  buying  in  Bel¬ 
gium,  ceased  to  find  a  market  here  and  so  also  with  the 
writings,  ledger  and  fancy  papers  from  England  and 
France.  Our  heaviest  importations  in  this  later  period 
were  to  the  value  of  $1,580,117  in  1871  and  in  1877, 
$1,200,103.  After  1877  imports  in  several  years  were  to 
the  following  values  :  1879,  $1,186,382 ;  1880,  $1,671,120 ; 
1882,  $2,034,289,  with  slight  falling  off  in  the  next  five 
years;  1888,  $2,400,790;  1893,  $3,880,981,  with  slight  fall¬ 
ing  off  in  the  next  six  years. 

Until  after  the  civil  war  our  exports  of  paper  were  nearly 
negligible  in  quantity  and  in  value,  and  in  the  immediately 
subsequent  years  they  crawled  up  very  slowly  and  with 
occasional  set-back.  Beginning  in  1870  values  of  our  ex¬ 
ports  in  several  years  thereafter  were:  1870,  $514,592; 
1879,  $1,117,677;’  1880,  $1,201,143;  1881,  $1,408,976,  con¬ 
sidered  to  be  exceptionally  large ;  1884,  $929,821 ;  1885, 
$972,493,  with  a  steady  annual  increase  afterward.  In 
1890  our  exports  were  in  value  $1,226,686,  of  which 


291 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


amount  $234,501  was  to  England,  $181,800  to  Cuba,  $89,- 
540  to  Canada,  $78,319  to  Australia  and  $74,640  to  Mex¬ 
ico.  IXiring  the  next  ten  years  these  values  steadily 
increased  each  successive  year  except  in  1899  when  there 
was  the  immaterial  falling  away  of  $16,680. 

Imports  of  paper  and  its  manufactures,  in  1900,  not  in¬ 
cluding  books,  maps  and  other  printed  matter,  were  to  the 
value  of  $3,795,645.  From  that  point  the  increase  was 
regular  every  year  until,  in  1908,  the  amount  was  $12,223,- 
058.  In  1909  there  was  a  falling-oflf  to  $11,632,571  which 
was  followed  by  slight  decreases  in  each  year  thereafter 
until,  in  1915,  the  figures  were  $10,317,211.  In  1909  im¬ 
ports  of  printing-paper  were  to  the  value  of  $903,705. 
There  were  small  increases  in  1910,  1911  and  1912,  and 
then,  in  1913,  the  figures  jumped  to  $6,034,023,  in  1914, 
to  $11,075,659  and  in  1915  to  $13,119,912. 

Imports  of  paper  stock,  including  rags,  amounted  in 
value,  in  1900,  to  $3,261,778.  After  a  decrease  to  $2,183,- 
686,  in  1901,  there  was  a  gradual  rise,  year  by  year,  until, 
in  1907,  came  the  figure  of  $5,580,528.  In  1908  there  was 
a  drop  to  $3,675,926,  and,  in  1909,  to  $3,638,034.  In  1900 
the  imports  advanced  to  $5,206,877,  increasing  each  year 
thereafter  until,  in  1914,  the  values  of  $8,571,207  were 
reached.  Then,  in  1915,  the  effect  of  the  European  war 
was  shown  in  a  fall  of  nearly  fifty  per  cent  in  these  imports, 
the  drop  being  to  $4,817,583.  Foregoing  figures  do  not 
include  wood-pulp.  Imports  of  wood-pulp,  in  1900,  were 
to  the  value  of  $2,405,630,  and  increased  to  $4,500,955  in 
1905,  $6,348,857,  in  1907,  $8,629,263  in  1908,  $11,768,014 
in  1909,  $13,980,357  in  1911,  $16,165,316  in  1913  and  $19,- 
881,111  in  1915.  Pulp-wood  was  imported  in  1907  to  the 
value  of  $2,792,751,  in  1910,  $6,392,023,  in  1913,  $6,954,- 
952,  in  1914,  $7,245,466  and  in  1915,  $6,572,839. 

During  the  ten  years  from  1900  to  1909,  each  inclusive, 
we  exported  paper  and  its  manufactures,  exclusive  of 
books,  maps  and  other  printed  matter,  to  annual  amounts 
as  follows:  $5,477,884;  $6,215,833;  $7,438,901;  $7,312,- 
030;  $7,180,014;  $7,543,728;  $8,238,088;  $9,536,065; 
$9,856,733;  $8,064,706;  $7,663,139.  Printing-paper  was 
.exported  in  1900  to  the  value  of  $2,521,320.  In  the  subse- 

292 


MODERN  EXPANSION 


quent  ten  years  those  figures  did  not  materially  change, 
being  the  highest,  $3,489,589,  in  1901,  the  lowest,  $2,140,- 
582,  in  1908,  and,  in  1910,  $2,766,659.  In  1911  the  figures 
rose  to  $3,689,553,  in  1913  to  $4,057,219,  in  1915  to  $4,669,- 
009.  Writing-paper  and  envelopes  rose  in  value  of  ex¬ 
ports  from  $463,248  in  1900  to  $975,099  in  1905,  $1,200,- 
742  in  1907,  $1,351,226  in  1913  and  then  dropping  to  $1,- 
179,232  in  1914  and  $1,098,197  in  1915.  Of  the  exports 
for  1914  Australia  took  the  largest  quantity  of  printing- 
paper,  to  the  value  of  $947,185,  with  Argentina,  second, 
to  the  value  of  $447,908.  But  in  1915  our  best  customer 
in  this  line  was  Argentina,  to  which  country  we  sold  to  the 
value  of  $806,217 ;  and  Australia  was  second  with  value 
of  $744,356.  In  1916  we  sold  to  Argentina  to  the  value 
of  $1,039,360,  to  Cuba,  $376,011  and  to  Australia,  $296,- 
394.  Sales  of  books,  engravings,  maps,  music  and  other 
printed  matter  to  Canada  amounted  to  $4,905,329  in  1914; 
$4,123,068  in  1915  and  $4,420,478  in  1916,  being  in  each 
year  nearly  one-half  of  our  total  exports  of  that  descrip¬ 
tion. 

Long  before  1900  was  in  sight  modern  machinery  had 
been  the  prime  factor  in  the  industry,  and  modern  mills  as 
they  were  to  be  for  a  generation  at  least  were  fully  es¬ 
tablished  in  character  even  if  not  yet  in  completest  develop¬ 
ment.  Looking  at  modern  mills  so  well  equipped  with 
Fourdriniers  and  cylinders,  it  is  not  easy  to  understand 
the  scepticism  as  to  the  efficiency  of  those  machines  and 
the  possibilities  inherent  in  them  that  existed  for  more 
than  half  a  century  after  their  appearance  and  that,  in¬ 
deed,  continued  even  into  contemporaneous  times.  Few 
persons  then  had  dreamed  of  the  increase  in  size  and 
speed  of  running  that  was  to  come  in  a  generation.  In 
1847  the  machines  used  in  the  United  States  were  almost 
insignificant  in  size  compared  with  those  that  were  to  come 
after.  When  the  Chelsea  mill  in  Norwich,  Conn.,  put  in 
an  eighty-four-inch  machine  it  was  considered  a  wonder. 

Previous  to  1867  the  width  of  the  widest  machine  was 


Statistical  Abstract  of  the  United  States,  Twenty-eighth  Num¬ 
ber,  pp.  292,  300,  320.  Ditto,  Thirty-eighth  Number,  1915,  pp.  401-2 
and  413-14,  444. 


293 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


not  more  than  one  hundred  inches  and  the  maximum  speed 
did  not  exceed  one  hundred  feet  per  minute.  At  that  time 
it  was  generally  supposed  that  the  limit  of  width  and 
speed  had  been  reached.  In  1872  The  Paper  Trade  Re¬ 
porter  of  New  York  stated  as  a  surprising  fact  that,  while 
the  ordinary  speed  of  the  Fourdrinier  machine  was  from 
sixty  to  eighty  feet  per  minute,  on  printing  paper,  there 
was  then  one  machine  running  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  feet  per  minute,  producing  twenty-five 
tons  of  paper  weekly.  Nevertheless  paper-makers  in 
Europe  and  in  the  United  States  still  continued  doubtful. 
Their  views,  as  late  as  1873,  were  accurately  expressed  by 
one  writer : 

“If  every  part  is  constructed  with  the  utmost  care, 
substantially  and  true,  a  machine  with  a  wire  33  feet 
in  length  and  seven  drying  cylinders  of  3  feet  diam¬ 
eter,  can  make  news-print  paper  at  a  speed  of  from 
100  to  130  feet  per  minute.  The  width  of  the  ma¬ 
chines  has  also  been  increased  until  wires  86  inches 
wide  are  now  quite  numerous,  and  some  of  90  inches 
and  even  ICO  inches  are  in  use.""®* 

Not  long  after  this,  in  1880,  a  Fourdrinier  was  built  for 
the  mill  of  P.  H.  Glatfelter,  in  Spring  Forge,  Penn.,  that 
had  a  speed  of  two  hundred  feet  per  minute.  From  that 
time  on  the  pace  was  steadily  increased  until,  before  1897, 
machines  one  hundred  and  sixty  inches  wide  had  been 
built,  an  increase  of  sixty  per  cent,  in  thirty  years.  There 
were  four  mills  equipped  with  machines  capable  of  making 
merchantable  news-paper  continuously  at  five  hundred  feet 
per  minute,  an  increase  of  four  hundred  per  cent.,  in  the 
thirty  years  that  had  elapsed  since  1867.  Those  four  were 
in  the  plants  of  the  Glens  Falls  Paper  iMill  Company  of 
Glens  Falls,  N.  Y.,  the  Hudson  River  Pulp  and  Paper  Com¬ 
pany  of  Palmer’s  Falls,  N.  Y.,  the  Glen  Manufacturing 
Company  of  Berlin,  N.  H.,  and  the  Willamette  Pulp  and 
Paper  Compatw  of  Oregon  City,  Ore.®®^'  The  largest  ma- 

“■'Carl  Hoffman;  Treatise  on  the  Manufacture  of  Paper  (1873), 
p.  193. 

H.  Savery:  The  Paper  Machine.  In  The  Paper  Trade 
Journal,  October  16,  1897,  p.  9. 


294 


MODERN  EXPANSION 


chine  then  in  the  world — 1897 — was  a  Fourdrinier  built  by 
the  Rice,  Barton  &  Fales  Machine  and  Iron  Company 
for  the  Rumford  Falls  Paper  Company  of  Rumford, 
Me.  The  felts  for  this  machine  were  one  hundred  and 
seventy-two  inches  rvide  and  the  width  of  the  paper  run 
was  one  hundred  and  fifty-two  inches.  At  that  time,  in 
striking  contrast  with  this  big  machine,  was  the  smallest 
machine  in  the  world,  which  had  been  built  by  the  Pusey  & 
Jones  Company  of  Wilmington,  Del.,  for  the  Heller  & 
jMerz  Company  of  Newark,  N.  J.  The  machine  had  one 
forming  cylinder,  fourteen  inches  diameter  and  fifteen 
inches  face ;  one  pair  of  press  rolls,  sixteen  inches  diameter 
and  fourteen  inches  face,  and  three  dryers,  fifteen  inches 
diameter  and  fourteen  inches  face. 

Even  then  most  manufacturers  were  slow  in  conced¬ 
ing  the  real  value  of  the  great  machinery  advance. 
Especially  was  this  true  across  the  Atlantic.  An  Eng¬ 
lish  writer  in  1897  thought  that  he  had  reached  the 
limit  in  extolling  the  accomplishment  of  the  modern 
machine  when  he  said  that :  “A  modern  machine  will 
produce  a  piece  of  paper  300  to  400  feet  long  and  120 
inches  wide  in  one  minute  and  will  turn  out  about  55 
tons  of  paper  per  week.”  Another  writer  about  the 
same  time,  doubting  the  report  that  machines  in  the 
United  States  were  running  at  five  hundred  feet  per 
'minute,  said : 

“It  may  some  day  happen  that  the  construction  of 
paper  machines  will  be  so  improved  and  the  ‘stufif’ 
worked  in  such  a  way  as  to  enable  paper  makers  to 
work  with  advantage  at  this  high  speed ;  but  I  think 
I  am  right  in  saying  that  the  general  consensus  of 
opinion  is  strongly  against  such  high  pressure  for 
profitable  work.”-^“ 

It  took  less  than  twenty  years  for  the  Americans  to 
confound  those  doubting  Thomases  with  machines  from 
one  hundred  and  fifty  to  one  hundred  and  eighty-six 
inches  wide,  and  a  speed  of  six  hundred  and  thirty  to  six 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  a  minute. 


^“"Journal  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  (1898),  XLVL,  p.  416. 

295 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


There  has  been  a  steady  increase  in  the  number  of 
machines  in  the  mills  of  this  country  and  their  producing 
capacity  ever  since  they  were  first  introduced  and  espe¬ 
cially  in  the  present  generation.  In  1899  American  mills 
had  six  hundred  and  sixty-three  Fourdriniers  and  five  hun¬ 
dred  and  sixty-nine  cylinders ;  in  1904,  seven  hundred  and 
fifty-two  Fourdriniers  and  six  hundred  and  seventeen  cyl¬ 
inders  ;  in  1909,  eight  hundred  and  four  Fourdriniers  and 
six  hundred  and  seventy-six  cylinders.  The  total  annual 
tonnage  capacity  of  these  machines,  in  the  same  years, 
was:  2,782,219  in  1899  ;  3,857,903  in  1904  ;  5,293,397  in 
1909.  In  following  years  the  number  of  machines  of  both 
kinds  and  their  capacity  increased.  The  largest  Four- 
drinier  in  1916  was  in  the  Columbia  mill  of  the  Crown 
Willamette  Paper  Company  at  Camas,  Washington,  one 
hundred  and  eighty-six  inches.  In  the  mill  of  the  Minne¬ 
sota  &  Ontario  Power  Company,  at  International  Falls, 
Minn.,  were  two  Fourdriniers,  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
four  inches  each ;  and  the  same  company  had  also  two  one 
hundred  and  fifty-four-inch  machines.  Fourdriniers  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  inches  upward  were  not  uncommon  and 
cylinders  reached  the  size  of  one  hundred  and  forty-two 
and  one  hundred  and  forty-five  inches.  Among  the  big 
plants  of  contemporaneous  times,  equipped  with  Four¬ 
driniers,  were :  the  Rumford  Falls  mill,  nine,  from  seventy- 
eight  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  inches ;  the  Otis  mill,  nine, 
from  seventy-seven  to  one  hundred  and  forty-one  inches; 
the  Oxford  mill,  ten,  from  seventy-eight  to  one  hundred 
and  forty-two  inches ;  the  West  Virginia  Pulp  and  Paper 
mill  in  Maryland,  seven,  from  ninety-two  to  one  hundred 
and  fifty-two  inches ;  the  eight  mills  of  Crocker,  Burbank 
&  Co.,  in  Fitchburg,  Mass.,  fourteen,  from  seventy-two  to 
one  hundred  and  fifty-six  inches ;  the  mill  of  the  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania  Company  in  Johnsonburg,  Penn.,  eight, 
from  ninety-six  to  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  inches ;  the 
Great  Northern  Millinocket  mill  in  Maine,  eight  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty-two  inches  and  one  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty-eight  inches ;  the  Columbia  mill  of  the  Crown  Willa¬ 
mette  Paper  Company  in  Camas,  Washington,  six  from 
eighty-four  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  inches,  one  of 


296 


MODERN  EXPANSION 


one  hundred  and  fifty-two  inches  and  one  of  one  hundred 
and  eig^hty-six  inches ;  the  Cumberland  mills  of  S.  D. 
Warren  &  Co.,  twelve,  from  fifty-six  to  one  hundred  and 
forty-five  inches.^®^  And  in  Canada  they  had  reached  the 
width  of  over  two  hundred  inches  and  were  talking  of 
more;  but  that  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  history  of  the 
mills  on  this  side  of  the  border. 

While  prices  had  sailed  skyward  from  1861  to  1865  they 
declined  at  rapid  rate  from  1865  to  1880 :  superfine  writ¬ 
ing  folded,  fifty-eight  per  cent. ;  machine-finished  book, 
fifty-three  per  cent. ;  super-calendered  book ;  fifty  per  cent. 
Some  scattering  figures  of  prices  that  prevailed  during 
the  third  of  a  century  after  1870  will  give  something  of  an 
idea  of  the  conditions  of  the  market  in  those  times.  In 
1871  superfine  book  was  selling  in  the  eastern  markets  for 
twenty  to  twenty-four  cents  a  pound  and  in  Chicago  and 
Cincinnati  for  sixteen  to  eighteen  cents.  Fine  book  was 
selling  for  sixteen  to  seventeen  cents,  straw  paper  for 
newspapers  for  twelve  cents  and  straw-wrapping  for  four 
and  one-half  and  five  cents.  News  print  was  selling  at 
various  centers,  in  1875,  for  nine  cents,  superfine  calen¬ 
dered  book  for  thirteen  to  fourteen  and  one-half  cents  and 
machine  finish  book  for  ten  to  eleven  cents.  In  1895 
prices  were :  news,  two  and  three-eighths  to  two  and  three- 
fourths  cents ;  super,  four  and  three-fourths  to  five  and 
one-half  cents  and  machine  finish  four  to  four  and  one- 
half  cents,  a  steady  fall,  year  by  year,  for  the  twenty  years. 
In  1889  writing  ranged  from  fourteen  and  seventeen  cents 
for  superfine  to  seven  and  one-half  and  nine  cents  for 
engine  sized.  Super  and  calendered  book  commanded  six 
and  one-half  and  seven  and  one-half  cents.  News,  not  un¬ 
der  contract,  was  three  and  one-fourth  cents  and  upward. 

Abnormal  conditions  in  the  world  in  1899  affected  the 
paper  industry  in  this  country.  The  Spanish-American 
war,  the  Boer  war  and  other  affairs  stimulated  newspaper 
reading  so  that  the  demand  for  news  print  rose,  mills  were 
pushed  and  prices  went  up.  News  which,  in  the  preceding 
few  years  had  tended  to  fall  in  price,  went  up  again  to 


Lockwood’s  Directory  for  1897. 

297 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 

three  cents  and  more.  The  American  Writing  Paper  Com¬ 
pany  advanced  prices.  Book  paper  prices  in  all  grades 
went  up,  super  to  five  and  one-half  and  six  and  one-half 
cents.  Manilla,  tissue,  board  and  all  other  kinds  joined  in 
the  rising.  Prices  were  not  long  maintained  at  the  figures 
of  that  time.  A  year  later  the  average  price  for  all  paper 
used  in  newspapers  and  periodicals  was  down  to  2.57 
cents  per  pound;  news  in  rolls  was  1.7  cents,  news  in 
sheets,  1.89  cents,  and  wood-fibre  book  3.45  cents.  With 
fluctuations  of  minor  character  these  low  prices  were  main¬ 
tained  for  the  next  dozen  years. 

Paper-trade  journalism  began  in  1872  when  Howard 
Lockwood  published  the  first  number  of  The  Paper  Trade 
Journal.  A  few  years  previous.  The  Paper  Trade  Reporter 
was  published  but  it  was  a  small  affair  and  did  not  long 
endure.  Mr.  Lockwood  was  a  young  man  who  had  been 
in  the  trade  only  a  few  years  when  he  conceived  the  kiea 
of  a  newspaper  devoted  to  its  interests.  He  was  not  a 
newspaper  man  but  he  had  a  natural  instinct  for  news¬ 
gathering,  a  genius  for  publishing,  a  good  knowledge  of 
the  trade  in  paper  and  acquaintance  with  the  processes  of 
its  manufacture.  Independent,  fair,  honest,  and  enter¬ 
prising  from  the  outset,  aiming  only  to  print  all  the  news 
and  to  serve  the  interests  of  the  industry  in  every  con¬ 
ceivable  legitimate  manner,  Mr.  Lockwood  was  imme¬ 
diately  successful  and  his  paper  soon  became  a  power  for 
good.  In  1873  he  began  the  publication  of  Lockwood’s 
Directory  of  the  Paper  and  Stationery  Trades;  in  1875 
The  American  Stationer  and  in  1885  The  American  Book¬ 
maker,  afterward  The  Printer  and  Bookmaker.  In  addi¬ 
tion  to  these  periodicals  he  published  books  relating  to  the 
industry  such  as  The  Chemistry  of  Paper  Making  and  The 
Dictionary  of  Printing  and  Book  Making.  He  died  in  the 
prime  of  life,  in  1892,  but  he  had  lived  to  see  his  publica¬ 
tions  firmly  established  in  the  foremost  ranks  of  trade 
journalism  in  the  United  States.  In  subsequent  years 
there  were  other  periodicals  in  the  field  notably  The  Amer¬ 
ican  Paper  Trade  and  Wood  Pulp  Nezvs,  The  Paper  Mill 
and  several  times  Paper. 

Contributing  much  to  a  general  advancement  and  broad 


298 


MODERN  EXPANSION 


development  of  the  industry  has  been  influence  emanating 
from  various  associations  established  among  those  actiye 
in  the  trade.  Eirst  of  these  was  the  American  Paper  Man¬ 
ufacturers’  Association  which  grew  out  of  a  convention 
held  in  1878  and  which  presently  became  the  American 
Paper  and  Pulp  Association.  With  an  initial  purpose  for 
co-operation  to  control  the  market  and  stabilize  prices,  the 
association  shortly  took  on  social  in  place  of  the  business 
character  that  had  first  informed  it  and  exercised  influence 
by  the  interchange  of  views  among  its  members,  on  condi- 

299 


Howard  Lockwood. 
Founder  of  the  Paper  Trade  Journal. 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


tions  and  problems  of  the  industry.  The  membership  of 
the  association,  1878-1916,  included  practically  all  the  lead¬ 
ing  men  in  the  industry.  Among  its  presidents  during 
that  period  were  William  Whiting,  Wellington  Smith, 
William  H.  Parsons,  Byron  Weston,  William  A.  Russell, 
Warner  Miller,  Augustus  G.  Paine,  George  F.  Perkins, 
Hugh  J.  Chisholm,  P.  C.  Cheney,  Arthur  C.  Hastings,  A. 
B.  Daniels  and  George  W.  Knowlton.  Other  associations 
in  different  branches  of  the  trade  have  been  active  and  in¬ 
fluential  in  New  York,  Boston,  Baltimore,  Philadelphia, 
the  Miami  Valley  of  Ohio,  central  New  York  State,  west¬ 
ern  Pennsylvania,  the  Pacific  coast  and  the  northwest 
section.  Of  late  origin  and  of  more  business  character 
was  the  News  Print  Manufacturers’  Association,  formed 
to  conserve  the  interests  of  the  manufacturers  of  news¬ 
print.  Under  the  management  of  George  F.  Steele  a  great 
deal  of  remarkable  service  was  done,  statistical  and 


George  F.  Steele. 

300 


MODERN  EXPANSION 


otherwise  for  this  particular  branch  of  the  industry. 

Importance  of  advanced  technic  in  paper-making  was 
recognized  in  this  new  era  more  than  ever  before.  The 
pursuit  became  more  thoroughly  scientific — a  profession 
rather  than  a  trade.  Technical  knowledge  and  experience 
were  demanded  in  men  who  would  undertake  the  work  of 
making  paper  and  developing  the  industry.  To  this  end 
schools  for  instruction  were  started  to  supplement  prac¬ 
tical  labor  in  the  mills.  The  first  collegiate  institution  to 
move  in  this  direction  was  the  University  of  Maine,  at 
Orono,  which,  in  1912,  began  lectures  and  laboratory 
courses  on  the  making  of  pulp  and  paper,  and  on  forestry 
in  connection  therewith.  A  small  paper-plant  was  in¬ 
stalled  in  1914.  Students  also  had  opportunity  to  learn 
from  actual  experience  in  mills  and  in  lumber  camps. 

In  1912  the  United  States  government  established  in 
the  University  of  Wisconsin,  at  Madison,  a  forest  products 
laboratory,  consisting  of  a  paper-mill,  with  two  beating 
and  one  refining  engine,  and  a  pulp-mill,  with  a  wet  ma¬ 
chine,  a  soda-digester,  sulphite-digester  and  two  grinders. 
The  plant  was  for  experimenting  with  and  testing  the 
commercial  value  of  different  fibres  for  paper-making.  In 
1910  a  laboratory  equipped  with  grinder,  barker,  wet  ma¬ 
chine  and  other  machinery  was  established  at  Wausau, 
Wis.,  to  experiment  and  study  ground-wood  problems. 

In  1916  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  de¬ 
veloped  a  plan  to  give  practical  instruction  to  its  advanced 
students  in  applied  chemistry  as  related  to  manufacturing 
interests.  In  the  field  of  pulp  and  paper-making  the  Insti¬ 
tute  selected,  as  a  station  for  this  purpose,  the  plant  of  the 
the  Eastern  Manufacturing  Company,  South  Brewer, 
Me.  Arrangements  were  made  for  a  laboratory  building 
and  a  course  of  instruction  in  all  the  various  processes  of 
manufacturing  pulp  from  wood  and  rags  and  perfecting  it 
for  paper-stock;  and  as  an  outgrowth  of  this  it  was  pro¬ 
posed  ultimately  to  establish  a  research  organization.  And 
to  these  institutional  enterprises  must  be  added  private 
experimental  establishments  like  the  Arthur  D.  Little  of 
Boston,  and  the  increasing  experimenting  of  individual 
workers  in  the  mills  everywhere. 

301 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  UNITED  STATES 


Before  1880  hand-made  paper  had  nearly  disappeai:ed 
as  an  American  product,  machinery  having  driven  it  out 
of  existence.  The  last  to  abandon  the  old  method  was  the 
Willcox  mill  in  Pennsylvania,  the  mill  of  the  L.  L. 
Brown  Paper  Company  in  Adams,  Mass.,  and  the  mill  of 
the  Seymour  Paper  Company  in  Windsor  Locks,  Conn. 
In  1897  the  Brown  mill  was  the  only  one  left,  but  there 
that  kind  of  work  ceased  in  1906.  In  England,  in  1914, 
fourteen  firms  were  producing  hand-made  paper. 

In  the  closing  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  came  the 
movement  toward  the  concentration  of  capital  in  all 
branches  of  industry  which  made  that  period  most  notable 
in  the  financial  and  political  history  of  the  country.  Dur¬ 
ing  the  years  1897,  1898  and  for  a  decade  thereafter,  the 
movement  showed  a  development  that  commanded  the  at¬ 
tention  of  the  world  and  that  wholly  changed  the  char¬ 
acter  of  American  industry.  In  the  field  of  paper-manu¬ 
facturing,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  this  tendency  became  mani¬ 
fest.  Capital  invested  therein  increased  tremendously  and 
as  such  corporations  as  the  United  States  Steel  and  others 
of  that  ilk  came  into  existence,  it  naturally  followed  those 
examples,  seeking  the  opportunity  afforded  by  consolida¬ 
tion  in  corporate  form,  for  advantageous  employment. 

Disposition  had  long  existed  toward  loose  gentlemen’s 
agreements,  so-called,  in  nearly  all  branches  of  the  indus¬ 
try.  The  futility  of  such  attempts  to  restrict  production 
when  restriction  was  considered  necessary  to  control 
amount  and  distribution  of  output  and  to  maintain  prices 
was  demonstrated  again  and  again.  Out  of  these  failures 
came  a  few  successful  attempts  at  co-operation  and  con¬ 
solidation,  but  more  efforts  that  were  in  the  end  abortive. 
Several  of  the  large  corporations  that  became  and  re¬ 
mained  conspicuous  and  influential  in  the  industry  date 
from  that  time  and  were  the  outgrowth  of  the  investment 
influences  then  being  exercised. 

The  International  Paper  Company  became  the  conspicu¬ 
ous  success  of  this  consolidation  movement.  Incorporated 
in  1898  the  company  acquired  many  of  the  most  important 
mills  manufacturing  news  in  the  eastern  states  and  grad¬ 
ually  added  other  paper  and  pulp  mills,  wood  lands  and 


302 


MODERN  EXPANSION 


William  A.  Russell. 

water  power  to  its  possessions.  With  a  capital  stock  of 
$25,000,000  preferred  and  $20,000,000  common  and  a 
bonded  mortgage  of  $10,000,000,  its  assets  in  1900-01  were, 
mill  plants  $41,586,964,  and  wood  lands  and  other  property 
$4,101,723:  these  values  increasing  in  subsequent  years. 
The  company  then  owned  thirty-four  mill  plants,  water- 
powers  and  wood  lands  in  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Ver¬ 
mont,  Massachusetts,  New  York  and  Ontario  and  had  con¬ 
trolling  interests  in  the  Continental  Paper  Bag  Company, 
the  St.  Maurice  Lumber  Company,  the  American  Realty 
Company,  the  American  Sulphite  Company,  the  Winnipi- 
seogee  Lake  Cotton  and  Woollen  Company  and  the 
Michigan  Pulp  Wood  Company,  The  organizing  presi¬ 
dent  of  the  company  was  Alonzo  N.  Burbank  and  the  first 
active  president  William  A.  Russell,  who  served  until  his 
death  in  1899  and  was  succeeded  by  Hugh  J.  Chisholm 


303 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


who  held  the  office  for  many  years  and  was  the  controlling 
power  in  the  company.  Among  other  prominent  paper  men 
active  in  its  management  during  the  first  eighteen  years 
of  its  existence  were  Warren  Curtis,  Frederick  H.  Parks 
and  Albrecht  Pagenstecker.  Mr.  Burbank  was  again  presi¬ 
dent  in  1907  and  after. 

In  1916,  with  Philip  T.  Dodge  as  president,  the  company 
owned  and  operated  thirty-one  mills.  In  New  York  were 
the  Glens  Falls,  Fort  Edward,  Hudson  River,  Niagara 
Falls,  Curtis,  Lake  George,  Piercefield,  Cadyville,  Water- 
town  and  Woods  Falls;  in  Maine  the  Otis,  Rumford 
Falls,  Webster,  Livermore,  Solon,  Riley  and  West  Enfield ; 
in  New  Hampshire  the  Glen  and  the  Winnipiseogee ;  in 
Massachusetts  the  Montague;  in  Vermont  the  Fall  Moun¬ 
tain,  Wilder  and  Milton.  All  these  plants  had  mills  for 
producing  ground-wood  pulp,  their  total  daily  capacity 
being  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  seven  tons.  With 
the  exception  of  the  Curtis,  Livermore,  Solon,  Cadyville, 
Riley,  West  Enfield  and  Milton,  all  had  paper  mills, 
with  total  daily  capacity  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  twenty-seven  tons.  Nine  of  them  had  sulphite  in  addi¬ 
tion  to  paper  and  ground-wood  mills,  their  daily  capacity 
being  five  hundred  and  seventeen  tons,  the  Rumford  Falls 
mill  with  a  daily  capacity  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  tons 
being  the  largest. 

The  American  Writing  Paper  Company  was  incorpor¬ 
ated  in  New  Jersey  with  a  capital  stock  of  $25,000,000 
and  organized  with  Elisha  Morgan  of  Springfield,  Mass., 
as  president.  The  company  took  over  the  mills  of  these 
concerns :  Beebe  &  Holbrook  Paper  Company,  Chester 
Paper  Company,  Massasoit  Paper  Company,  Esleeck  Pa¬ 
per  Company,  Hurlbut  Manufacturing  Company,  Crocker 
Manufacturing  Company,  Oakland  Paper  Company, 
Springdale  Paper  Company,  Parsons  Paper  Company, 
Norman  Paper  Company,  Platner  &  Porter  Paper  Manu¬ 
facturing  Company,  Windsor  Paper  Company,  Linden  Pa¬ 
per  Company,  Nonotuck  Paper  Company,  Harding  Paper 
Company,  Holyoke  Paper  Company,  Dickinson  Paper  Com¬ 
pany,  Riverside  Paper  Company,  Shattuck  &  Babcock 
Company,  Albion  Paper  Company,  Syms  &  Dudley 

304 


MODERN  EXPANSION 


Arthur  C.  Hastings. 

Paper  Company,  George  C.  Gill  Paper  Company,  Con¬ 
necticut  River  Paper  Company,  Agawam  Paper  Company, 
Eaton,  May  &  Robbins  Paper  Company,  George  K.  Baird 
Paper  Company,  Wauregan  Paper  Company  and  the  plant 
of  the  Hurlbut  Stationery  Company.  The  company  down  to 
1916,  when  Arthur  C.  Hastings  had  been  president  for 
several  years,  had  done,  from  its  start,  an  annual  busi¬ 
ness  of  about  $12,000,000.  Twenty-two  mills  were  then 
owned  and  operated  by  the  company.  The  total  capacity 
of  these  mills  was  828,500  pounds  daily. 

Eor  upward  of  twenty-five  years  the  straw-board  inter¬ 
ests  have  been  the  subject  of  more  attention  from  finan¬ 
ciers,  promoters,  pooling  agents  and  speculators  than  any 
other  single  branch  of  the  paper  industry.  A  volume 
would  be  required  to  rehearse  in  detail  all  the  history  in 
these  various  movements  for  control  or  manipulation  in 
the  straw  field.  Before  1890  pooling  arrangements  were 


305 


PAPER  MANETACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


O.  C.  Barber. 

capital  of  $6,000,000,  was  powerful  in  the  market.  Prices 
came  down  to  $35  and  $32  a  ton,  but  soon  went  up  again. 
In  January,  1892,  the  American  Straw  Board  Company 
and  the  independents  came  to  an  agreement  on  prices  at 
$40@$32.50,  but  the  compact  was  soon  broken.  At  that 
time  the  daily  product  of  the  country  was  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  tons  and  the  daily  consumption  four  hundred 
and  fifty  tons. 


entered  into  by  many  of  the  mill  owners  and  prices  went 
up  and  then  down  as  the  pool  or  its  competitors  might 
be  dominant,  but  after  a  time  these  were  abandoned.  In 
1889  The  Union  Straw  Board  was  in  control  of  ninety  per 
cent  of  the  mills,  but  the  same  year  it  was  succeeded  by 
the  American  Straw  Board  Company  which,  with  a 


306 


MODERN  EXPANSION 


In  1897  the  American  Straw  Board  Company  and  the 
Standard  Straw  Board  Company,  a  selling  organization, 
were  in  the  field  in  agreement  to  control,  but  outside  mills 
broke  prices.  The  Standard  retired  but  the  Straw  Board 
Manufacturers’  Association  came  in  to  do  what  the  other 
had  failed  to  accomplish;  but  its  success  was  merely  a 
temporary  flash.  In  the  first  months  of  1901  the  inde¬ 
pendent  mills  organized  the  Manufacturers’  Straw  Board 
Company  as  their  selling  agency  and  began  cutting  prices. 
During  that  year  prices  fluttered  around  $20.50  and  $32.50. 
The  foregoing  gives  but  the  merest  suggestion  of  the  kal¬ 
eidoscopic  activities  in  the  field  of  straw-board  manufac¬ 
turing  in  this  generation.  Through  it  all  the  American 
Straw  Board  Company  maintained  its  existence  in  varied 
experience  and  changing  control. 

In  1916  the  company  owned  thirteen  mills,  six  of  which 
were  in  Ohio,  in  Barberton,  Circleville,  Dayton,  Piqua, 
Tiffin  and  Tippecanoe  City ;  three  were  in  Illinois,  in 
Lockport,  Quincy  and  Wilmington ;  and  one  each  in  Ches- 
tertown,  Md. ;  Winchester,  Va. ;  Norwich,  Conn.,  and 
Noblesville,  Ind.  Nine  mills  were  in  operation  with  daily 
capacity  of  four  hundred  and  seventy-four  tons.  The  pres¬ 
ident  of  the  company  was  then  O.  C.  Barber  who  was 
one  of  its  founders  in  1889  and  its  first  president.  Mr. 
Barber  was  active  in  the  straw  board  business  as  far 
back  as  1874  when  he  built  the  mill  of  the  Akron,  Ohio, 
Straw  Board  Company.  He  also  built  the  Wabash  paper- 
mill  and  the  mill  of  the  American  Straw  Board  Company 
at  Circleville  in  1882. 

This  movement  toward  big  corporations  extended  well 
over  into  the  twentieth  century  before  it  settled  down 
fixedly  into  a  permanent  condition.  From  1900  on,  for 
ten  years  or  more,  was  a  period  particularly  of  strenuous 
and  sometimes  exciting  effort  in  that  direction.  Other 
substantial  corporations,  that  were  destined  to  become 
prominent  and  influential  in  the  industry,  had  their  begin¬ 
nings  then.  They  were  combinations  controlling  many 
heretofore  individual  enterprises  or  they  were  single  prop¬ 
erties  expanding  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  time. 

The  United  Box  Board  and  Paper  Company,  in  1902, 

.307 


PAPER  ANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


took  over  mills  operated  by  twenty-eight  companies  and 
firms  making  straw,  news  and  other  boards.  Five  years 
later,  after  prolonged  internal  disagreements  between 
the  stockholders  and  the  management,  most  of  the  mills 
went  back  to  the  original  owners.  In  1908,  out  of  a 
receivership,  the  company  was  reorganized  as  the  United 
Boxboard  Company.  Out  of  this  came,  in  1912,  the  United 
Paperboard  Company,  Sidney  Mitchell  president,  with 
capital  stock  of  $14,100,000.  In  1916  the  company  owned 
and  operated  eleven  paper-board  mills,  daily  capacity  three 
hundred  and  seventy  two  tons,  in  Benton  Falls  and  Fair- 
field,  Me.,  Whippany,  N.  J.,  Urbana,  Ohio,  Peoria  and 
Mt.  Carmel,  Ill.,  Rockport,  Wabash  and  West  Muncie, 
Ind.,  Lockport  and  Schuylerville,  N.  Y. ;  six  ground-wood 
mills,  daily  capacity  ninety-three  tons,  in  Benton  Falls, 
l^airfield,  Schuylerville,  Lockport  and  West  Muncie;  one 
soda-mill,  daily  capacity  thirty  tons,  in  Fairfield,  and  one 
sulphite-mill,  daily  capacity  thirty  tons,  in  Lockport. 

The  Union  Bag  and  Paper  Company  was  organized  in 
1910,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  over  the  then-existing 
Union  Bag  and  Paper  Company,  the  Consolidated  S.  O.  S. 
Bag  Company,  the  Van  Nortwick  paper  and  bag  inter¬ 
ests  and  several  mills  in  New  York.  The  capital  stock 
was  $27,000,000,  and  there  was  an  authorized  bond  issue 
of  $5,000,000.  The  properties  of  the  company  consisted 
of  three  paper-mills,  in  Hudson  Falls,  N.  Y.,  and 
one  each  in  Ballston  Spa,  N.  Y.,  and  Kaukauna,  Wis. ; 
four  ground-wood  mills  in  Hudson  Falls,  and  one 
each  in  Ballston  Spa,  Hadley,  N.  Y.,  and  Kaukauna; 
one  sulphite  mill  in  Hudson  Falls.  In  1916  the  office 
of  president  of  the  company  was  vacant  and  August  Heck- 
sher  as  chairman  of  the  board  of  directors  exercised 
general  direction  of  its  affairs.  The  company  was  then 
operating,  in  Hudson  Falls  and  Kaukauna,  ten  mills 
with  daily  capacity  of  two  hundred  and  fifteen  tons 
of  paper,  fifty-nine  tons  of  ground-wood  and  one  hundred 
and  forty  tons  of  sulphite-fibre.  It  also  operated  bag  fac¬ 
tories  in  Hudson  Falls,  Kaukauna  and  Chicago  and  con¬ 
trolled  a  subsidiary  company  in  Canada,  the  St.  Maurice 
Paper  Company. 


308 


MODERN  EXPANSION 


The  Continental  Paper  Bag  Company  was  organized 
with  preferred  stock  of  $2,500,000  and  common  stock  of 
$2,500,000.  In  1916  the  company,  Herman  Elsas,  presi¬ 
dent,  owned  the  Watertown  mill  in  Watertown,  N.  Y.,  the 
Ashland  in  Ashland,  N.  H.,  and  the  Greenwich  in  Green¬ 
wich,  N.  Y.,  the  daily  capacity  of  these  mills  being  thirty 
tons  of  tissue  and  eight  tons  of  ground-wood.  In  addi¬ 
tion  the  company  owned  a  bag  factory  in  Rumford,  Me. 


John  G.  Luke. 

The  Great  Northern  Paper  Company  came  into  being, 
in  1899,  with  capital  of  $4,000,000  and  built  the  big  modem 
Millinocket  mill  in  Maine.  Among  its  owners  were  Oliver 
H.  Payne,  Augustus  G.  Paine,  and  Garrett  Schenck.  The 
company  acquired  260,000  acres  of  timber  land  and  subse¬ 
quently  added  other  paper  and  pulp  mills  to  its  property. 
In  1916,  besides  its  original  ten-machine  news-mill,  of 
three  hundred  and  twenty  tons  daily  capacity,  it  had  a 

309 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


news-mill  in  East  Millinocket,  of  one  hundred  and  eighty 
tons  daily  capacity,  a  news  and  bag  paper-mill  in  Madi¬ 
son,  Me.,  of  sixty  tons  daily  capacity,  and  three  pulp- 
mills,  with  daily  capacity  of  six  hundred  and  ten  tons  of 
ground  wood,  and  sulphite  fibre. 

The  West  Virginia  Pulp  and  Paper  Company,  already 
a  large  and  flourishing  concern  under  the  presidency  of 
John  G.  Luke,  was  reincorporated,  in  1899,  and  consoli¬ 
dated  the  property  of  the  Morrison  and  Case  Paper 
Company  in  Tyrone,  Penn.,  with  that  which  it  owned  in 
West  Virginia.  By  1916  the  company  had  further 
expanded  in  five  states.  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Mary¬ 
land,  Virginia  and  West  Virginia,  having  five  paper-mills 
with  daily  capacity  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  tons  of  book, 
writing  and  other  papers ;  four  soda-pulp  mills  with  daily 
capacity  of  two  hundred  tons,  and  three  sulphite-fibre  mills 
with  daily  capacity  of  one  hundred  and  seventy  tons. 

Among  other  large  corporations  that  came  into  being 
after  1900  were :  the  St.  Croix  Paper  Company,  $2,500,- 
000,  the  Finch,  Pruyn  &  Co.,  $3,000,000 ;  the  consolidation 
of  the  Columbia  River  Paper  Company  and  the  Crown 
Paper  Company  as  the  Crown-Columbia  Pulp  and  Paper 
Company,  $1,000,000;  the  Champion  Fibre  Company  to 
build  a  pulp  mill  in  North  Carolina,  $1,000,000;  the  con¬ 
solidation  of  the  Bryant  Paper  Company,  the  Imperial 
Coating  Mills  and  the  Superior  Paper  Company  into  the 
Bryant  Paper  Company,  of  Kalamazoo,  Mich. ;  the  consoli¬ 
dation  of  the  Tytus  Paper  Company,  the  Gardner  Papier 
Company  and  the  Middletown  Paper  Bag  Company  into 
the  Tytus-Gardner.  Manufacturing  Company,  $1,000,000; 
the  consolidation  of  the  Nekoosa  Paper  Company,  the 
John  Edwards  Manufacturing  Company  and  the  Port  Ed¬ 
wards  Fibre  Company  into  the  Nekoosa-Edwards  Com¬ 
pany,  $3,000,000.  The  Bryant  Paper  Company,  with  a 
capital  of  $3,000,000  which  was  increased  to  $6,500,000, 
in  1916,  became  the  largest  producing  mill  in  the  world, 
of  book-paper. 

Instances  like  the  foregoing  might  be  multiplied  but 
sufficient  have  been  noted  to  show  the  trend  of  things.  The 
industry  grew  as  it  had  never  grown  before  in  any  other 

310 


MODERN  EXPANSION 


William  H.  Parsons. 

period  of  its  existence.  Scores  of  concerns  were  incor¬ 
porated  with  capitalizations  ranging  from  half  a  million 
to  several  million  dollars,  while  others,  already  well-estab¬ 
lished,  increased  capitalizations  in  similar  figures.  Mil¬ 
lion  dollar  corporations  became  almost  commonplace  to 
paper-manufacturers.  In  1912  nineteen  new  paper  and 
pulp  enterprises  were  inaugurated  with  a  capitalization  of 
$15,240,000.  In  addition  there  were  incorporated  nine 
companies  dealing  in  lumber  products  and  pulp-wood 
lands,  with  capital  of  $4,130,000.  That  was  a  fair  example 
of  what  was  taking  place,  in  this  decade. 


311 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


In  this  era  of  business  expansion,  when  “trusts”  had 
everywhere  become  the  order  of  the  day,  discussion  of 
combinations  reached,  at  times,  a  state  of  feverish  excite¬ 
ment  among  paper-manufacturers.  A  great  deal  of  this 
discussion  did  not  get  much  beyond  the  speculative  and 
spectacular  stage,  but  presently  the  field  of  paper  learned 
to  know  the  promoter.  Nearly  all  branches  of  the  indus¬ 
try  were  exploited  and  sometimes  disastrously.  One 
figure  that  loomed  large,  in  this  period,  was  that  of  John 
H.  Parks  whose  ambitious  plans,  best  known  as  the 
“Parks’  pooling,”  commanded  attention  more  by  what  was 
proposed  to  be  done  under  them  than  by  any  final  suc¬ 
cess  achieved  thereby.  Most  of  the  Parks’  Pool  organi¬ 
zations,  as  they  were  called,  fell  under  the  disapproval 
of  the  United  States  government  which  made  short  work 
of  them.  The  individual  official  members  were  indicted, 
under  the  Sherman  anti-trust  law,  for  actions  in  restraint 
of  trade.  Generally  they  pleaded  guilty  and  were  fined 
$2,000  each,  and  their  association  was  dissolved.  Thus 
went  by  the  Fibre  and  Manila  Associations,  1908 ;  the 
American  Paper  Board  Association,  in  1910;  the  Eastern 
Box  Board  Association,  in  1911 ;  the  General  Paper  Com¬ 
pany,  a  Chicago  selling  agency  for  Wisconsin  mills,  in 
1905 ;  the  box-board  makers  in  1905,  and  others. 

Other  combinations  that  appeared  about  this  time,  with 
ambition  to  absorb  and  control,  did  not  last  long.  The 
Columbian  Straw  Paper  Company,  with  a  capital  stock 
of  $4,000,000,  tried  to  take  in  the  straw-wrapping  mills. 
Begun  in  1892,  it  was  brought  to  an  end  in  1895  under 
foreclosure  proceedings.  The  National  Wall  Paper  Com¬ 
pany  endured  a  few  years  and  was  then  absorbed  by  the 
Continental  Wall  Paper  Company  which  eventually  went 
the  way  of  its  predecessors.  For  some  time  interest  among 
the  pulp-board  men  was  centered  around  the  National 
Wood  Board  Company,  and  then  the  National  Board  and 
Paper  Company,  and  then  the  National  Pulp  Board  Com¬ 
pany,  and  then  the  National  News  Board  Company;  and 
from  time  to  time  the  Paper  Products  Company,  the  West¬ 
ern  Box  Board  Company  and  others ;  but  all  were  soon 
only  memories.  In  1901  the  White  Mountain  Paper  Com- 

312 


MODERN  EXPANSION 


paiiy  was  incorporated  with  capital  stock  of  $15,000,000 
and  began  the  construction  of  a  paper  and  pulp  plant  in 
Portsmouth,  N.  H.  The  company  failed  before  it  really 
began ;  in  1903  a  receiver  was  appointed  and  the  company 
declared  bankrupt.  The  property  was  sold  in  1905  to 
the  Publishers  Paper  Company  organized  with  capital  of 
$6,000,000,  but  that  was  out  of  existence  a  few  years  later. 

The  Manufacturers  Investment  Company  started  in  with 
a  sulphite  mill  in  Appleton,  Wis.,  in  1891,  and  a  mill  in 
Madison,  Me.,  but  lasted  only  a  few  years.  In  1899  it 
went  under  the  hammer  at  a  receiver’s  sale,  the  Wisconsin 
property  being  acquired  by  the  Interlake  Pulp  and  Paper 
Company  which  had  a  ground-wood  mill  also,  while  the 
mill  in  Madison  was  bought  by  the  Great  Northern  Paper 
Company.  The  Union  Waxed  and  Parchment  Paper  Com¬ 
pany  was  organized  with  a  capital  of  $1,800,000.  It 
purchased  several  mills  but  later  consolidated  its  business 
in  the  Climax  mills,  in  Hamburg,  N.  J.,  where  it  per¬ 
manently  remained.  In  August,  1892,  the  United  Paper 
Company  was  incorporated,  its  purpose  being  well  indi¬ 
cated  by  the  name  under  which  it  was  popularly  known, 
“The  Tissue  Paper  Trust.”  Charles  F.  Gunckel  was  the 
president.  In  New  York,  New  Jersey  and  Ohio,  twelve 
mills  were  purchased  and  paid  for  in  stock  of  the  cor¬ 
poration.  Control  of  the  tissue  market  was  assured  and 
prices  began  to  mount.  Then  owners  of  straw-wrapping 
mills  saw  the  opportunity  and  turned  to  tissue.  The 
market  was  broken  and,  in  nine  months  from  its  start,  the 
company  went  into  the  hands  of  a  receiver,  being  finally 
resolved  into  its  constituent  elements.  Another  ambitious 
enterprise  of  the  period  was  the  Singerly  Pulp  and  Paper 
Company,  organized  in  1890  by  William  M.  Singerly, 
owner  of  The  Philadelphia  Record,  with  a  capital  of  half 
a  million  dollars.  Mr.  Singerly  built  a  mill  in  Elkton,  Md., 
and  went  along  for  eight  years.  Then,  in  the  stupendous 
financial  crash  of  all  the  Singerly  interests,  banking,  pub¬ 
lishing  and  manufacturing,  in  1898,  the  mill  was  ruined 
with  the  rest  and  passed  into  other  hands. 


313 


CHAPTER  FIFTEEN 


INTO  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 

Latest  Census  Figures — A  Wood-Pulp  Issue  With 
Canada — Exports  From  the  Dominion  Increased 
— The  Great  European  War  and  Its  Effects — 
Scarcity  of  Paper  Stock  and  Other  Materials — 
A  Paper-Famine  With  Rising  Prices — A  Sec¬ 
tional  AND  State  Review  of  the  Industry 

During  the  first  decade  and  a  half  of  the  twentieth  cen¬ 
tury  there  was  further  growth  of  the  industry.  A 
mid-period  census  gave  the  number  establishments  in  1904, 
as  seven  hundred  and  sixty-one,  capital,  $277,444,471,  prod¬ 
uct  value,  $188,715,189,  wage  earners,  65,964.  The  increase 
of  two  hundred  and  six  in  number  of  establishments  from 
1860  to  1905,  does  not  seem  large.  To  a  considerable  ex¬ 
tent  this  is  accounted  for  by  the  concentration  into  large 
establishments  thus  reducing  the  increase  in  number.  An 
exhibit  showing  the  average  amount  of  capital  invested 
and  the  average  value  of  products  per  establishment  at 
each  census,  beginning  with  1860  and  ending  in  1905, 
demonstrates  this.  The  figures  of  average  capital  in  those 
periods  were  successively:  $25,320,  $51,043,  $64,878, 
$138,412,  $219,538,  $364,579.  Figures  of  average  annual 
product  value,  in  the  same  periods,  were :  $38,228,  $72,156, 
$77,314,  $121,629,  $166,876,  $247,983.  The  remarkable 
increase  in  these  averages  from  1890  to  1905  cannot  escape 
attention  as  showing  the  great  development  of  the  industry 
in  this  generation. 

The  thirteenth  census  report  gave  the  number  of  estab¬ 
lishments  at  the  close  of  1909  as  seven  hundred  and  sev¬ 
enty-seven,  representing  a  capital  invested  of  $409,348.- 


314 


INTO  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


505,  an  increase  of  $241,841,292  since  1899,  with  value  of 
annual  production  $267,869,000,  an  increase  of  $140,542,- 
000.  There  was  a  two  per  cent,  gain  in  the  number  of 
establishments  and  a  one  hundred  and  ten  per  cent,  gain 
in  value  of  production.  While  there  was  a  one  hundred 
and  forty-four  per  cent,  increase  in  capital  invested  there 
was  only  slightly  more  than  fifty-two  per  cent,  increase 
in  value  of  production.  Wage  earners  were  75,978  and 
other  employees,  5,495.  New  York  had  one  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  establishments,  Massachusetts  eighty-eight, 
Pennsylvania  seventy-two,  Wisconsin  fifty-seven,  Con¬ 
necticut  fifty-one,  Ohio  forty-seven  and  Maine  forty-five. 
Paper  was  made  to  the  amount  of  4,216,708  tons.  News 
print  in  rolls  amounted  to  1,091,017  tons,  value,  $42,- 
807,000,  average  cost  $39.23^  per  ton;  news  print  at  the 
mills  then  sold,  in  some  instances,  from  $40  to  $42  a  ton. 
Book-paper  plain  amounted  to  575,000  tons,  value,  $42,- 
846,674,  average  cost,  $74.44  per  ton.  Fine  writing 
amounted  to  169,125  tons,  value,  $24,966,102,  average  cost 
$147.72.  Other  figures  were:  manila  wrapping,  73,731 
tons,  value,  $6,989,436;  heavy  wrapping,  108,561  tons, 
value,  $4,380,792 ;  straw  wrapping,  32,988  tons,  value, 
$870,419;  bogus  manilla,  367,932  tons,  value,  $19,777,707; 
tissue,  77,745  tons,  value,  $8,553,654.  The  tonnage  of 
ground-wood  and  chemical  fibre  produced  in  three  years, 
was:  1899,  1,179,525;  1904,  1,921,768;  1909,  2,495,523. 

In  1911  the  report  of  the  United  States  tariff  board  on 
pulp  and  news  print  paper  gave  eight  hundred  and  ninety- 
four  plants  as  making  paper  of  some  kind,  their  total  pro¬ 
ductive  capacity  being  5,196,398  tons.  Of  that  total  news 
print  and  hangings  were  1,335,321  tons,  wrapping, 
1,020,914  tons;  board,  1,190,214  tons;  book,  786,163  tons 
and  writing,  210,617  tons.  In  the  same  report  the  num¬ 
ber  of  ground-wood  mills  was  given  as  one  hundred  and 
ninety-two ;  grinders,  1,485,  producing  annually  2,008,680 
tons;  sulphite  plants,  ninety,  producing  1,204,894  tons; 
soda  pulp  plants,  thirty-one,  producing  417,387  tons.  In 
the  sulphite  and  soda  plants  there  were  555  digesters. 

A  tabulation  of  the  census  of  manufactures  taken  in 
1914  was  made  public  in  September,  1916,  and  showed  the 


315 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


following  for  the  industry  of  paper  and  pulp;  establish¬ 
ments,  seven  hundred  and  eighteen;  capital,  $534,625,000; 
value  of  product,  $332,147,000;  wage  earners  and  other 
employees,  95,156.  Comparison  with  figures  for  1909  and 
1904  show  a  wonderful  increase  in  capital  invested  and  in 
tonnage  and  value  of  product  in  the  several  branches  of 
the  industry.  From  1909  to  1914  the  increase  in  capital 
was  thirty  per  cent. ;  value  of  products,  twenty-four  per 
cent. ;  employees,  seventeen  per  cent. ;  salaries  and  wages 
paid,  thirty  per  cent.  Comparative  figures  for  1904  and 
1914  were  as  follows:  roll-news,  tons,  841,000  tons,  value 
$32,763,000,  and  1,186,277  tons,  value  $47,332,392;  sheet 
news,  value,  $3,143,000  and  $5,610,382;  book-paper, 
435,000  tons,  value,  $31,157,000,  and  786,626  tons,  value, 
$58,496,221 ;  writing-paper,  132,000  tons,  value,  $19,321,- 
000  and  195,351  tons,  value,  $28,637,257 ;  other  fine  papers, 
15,000  tons,  value,  $2,928,000,  and  52,377  tons,  value, 
$5,417,661 ;  heavy  wrapping,  97,000  tons,  value,  $4,036,000 
and  98,780  tons,  value,  $3,588,357 ;  straw-wrapping  $54,000 
tons,  value,  $1,389,000  and  15,606  tons,  value,  $519,309; 
wood-manillas,  228,000  tons,  value,  $10,100,000  and  383,987 
tons,  value,  $17,975,630;  boards  of  all  kinds,  521,000  tons 
and  1,208,795  tons. 

The  news  print  branch  of  paper-manufacturing  has  been 
largely  a  development  since  the  civil  war.  Before  that 
period  cheap  paper  was  not  possible  in  the  absence  of 
wood-pulp ;  and  the  enormous  size  and  circulation  of  mod¬ 
ern  newspapers  were  unknown.  About  1870  the  daily  pro¬ 
duction  of  news  print  amounted  to  one  hundred  and  thirty 
tons,  the  maximum  in  any  one  mill  being  nearly  ten  tons. 
Since  that  time  the  daily  ton  product  of  all  the  mills  of 
the  country  has  been  in  successive  years  approximately 
as  follows:  1880,  four  hundred;  1890,  seven  hundred; 
1900,  one  thousand  nine  hundred;  1905,  three  thousand; 
1909,  four  thousand;  1915,  six  thousand. 

In  1907  agitation  developed  among  newspaper  pub¬ 
lishers  on  account  of  the  higher  prices  asked  for  news¬ 
print.  The  government  was  appealed  to  for  prosecution 
of  the  so-called  “paper  trust”  and  for  the  repeal  of  tariff 
duties  on  paper  and  pulp.  President  Roosevelt,  in  his 


316 


INTO  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


annual  message,  advocated  the  repeal  of  the  duty  on  pulp 
provided  an  agreement  could  be  secured  with  Canada  that 
there  should  be  no  export  duty  on  pulp-wood  from  that 
dominion.  Nothing  came  from  this  immediately  but,  in 
1910,  consideration  of  a  general  trade  reciprocity  with 
Canada  resulted  in  the  appointment  of  commissioners  of 
the  two  countries,  who  worked  out  a  tentative  agreement 
which,  in  January,  1911,  was  submitted  to  congress  by 
President  Taft. 

In  this  agreement  paper,  pulp  and  pulp-wood  were 
placed  on  the  free  list  except  when  they  came  from  coun¬ 
tries  that  had  placed  an  export  duty  on  them.  At  that 
time  pulp  came  into  the  United  States  free  of  duty  or 
wdth  countervailing  duties ;  pulp-wood  was  free,  and  paper 
bore  moderate  duties.  The  reciprocity  treaty  passed  con¬ 
gress  and  was  signed  by  the  president  but  it  was  rejected 
in  the  Canadian  parliament.  One  section  of  the  measure 
was  so  framed  that  even  with  the  refusal  of  Canada  to 
accept  the  treaty,  as  a  whole,  pulp,  and  paper  valued  at 
not  over  two  and  one-half  cents  per  pound,  were  to  come 
into  this  country  free  of  duty.  Thus  our  market  was 
opened  to  all  the  pulp  and  paper  producing  countries  of 
the  world  and  especially  to  Canada  by  reason  of  her  near¬ 
ness  and  abundance  of  pulp-wood. 

The  immediate  effect  of  this  legislation  was  to  injure 
the  trade  in  the  United  States  especially  in  sections  con¬ 
tiguous  to  Canada  and  to  encourage  paper-manufacturing 
in  that  dominion.  Depression  in  the  United  States  pre¬ 
vailed  until  the  European  war  of  1914-1916,  in  a  measure, 
overcame  the  condition.  Comparative  figures  of  exports 
from  Canada  before  and  after  this  legislation  demonstrate 
how  it  worked.  In  1911,  1912,  1913,  1914,  1915,  for  the 
fiscal  years  ending  March  31,  exports  from  Canada  to  the 
United  States  were  in  value  as  follows ;  All  paper,  $2,- 
075,889,  $2,086,304,  $9,390,144,  $10,616,753,  $12,950,491 ; 
printing  paper,  $1,962,832,  $1,989,863,  $4,242,298,  $9,818,- 
539,  $12,126,982;  chemical  wood  pulp,  $1,298,162,  $1,585,- 

*“  Dominion  of  Canada.  Session  Papers,  Vol.  51,  No.  7.  Report 
of  the  Department  of  Trade  and  Commerce  for  1915.  Part  III., 
pp.  195  and  199. 


317 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


615,  $1,995,817,  $2,660,013,  $4,550,196;  mechanical  wood 
pulp,  $3,796,427,  $2,834,329,  $2,580,462,  $2,253,621, 

$2,893,618;  pulp  wood,  $6,092,715,  $5,697,901,  $6,806,945, 
$7,388,770,  $6,817,311. 

These  yearly  figures  dififer  slightly  from  those  in  the 
United  States  reports  for  the  reason  that  the  United  States 
fiscal  years  end  June  30.  During  our  fiscal  year  ending 
June,  1916,  Canada  exported  $17,759,018  worth  of  paper 
to  the  United  States.  Exports  of  pulp-wood  were  valued 
at  $6,102,170,  all  of  which  came  to  the  United  States,  a, 
decrease  from  1915  of  $360,955.  Wood-pulp  exports  to 
the  United  States  were  to  the  value  of  $10,793,647.  Im¬ 
ports  of  finished  paper  and  the  manufactures  thereof  from 
the  United  States  were  to  the  value  of  $4,243,530,  and 
books,  periodicals,  etc.,  $4,076,671. 

The  Underwood- Simmons  tariff  bill  of  1913  operated 
to  repeal  the  section  of  the  reciprocity  act  of  1911,  that 
related  to  pulp  and  paper  but  the  burdens  that  the  Ameri¬ 
can  industry  complained  of  were  not  removed.  Free  entry 
was  given  to  printing-paper  worth  not  more  than  two  and 
one-half  cents  a  pound  and  a  tax  of  twelve  cents  ad 
valorem  was  placed  on  print-paper  worth  more  than  two 
and  one-half  cents.  It  was  also  provided  that  a  counter¬ 
vailing  duty  should  be  placed  upon  printing-paper  valued 
above  two  and  one-half  cents  when  imported  from  any 
country  imposing  export  duty  upon  paper,  wood-pulp  or 
pulp-wood.  On  the  free  list  were  many  raw  materials  in¬ 
cluding  rags,  pulp-wood  and  wood-pulp.  Duties  on  chemi¬ 
cals,  china-clay,  starch  and  other  articles  were  reduced. 
Most  of  the  articles  on  the  free  list  were  also  free  under 
the  Payne-Aldrich  act  of  1909 ;  except  news  paper  gen¬ 
erally  had  a  moderate  protection  although  slightly  re¬ 
duced,  from  the  tariff  prevailing.  Most  duties  were  ad 
valorem  and  the  insidious  combination  of  specific  and  ad 
valorem  was  largely  dropped.  The  revenue  bill  enacted 
in  1916  amended  the  tariff  of  1913  by  placing  on  the  free 
list  printing-paper  of  value  up  to  five  cents  a  pound  with 
the  duty  of  twelve  per  cent  ad  valorem  applying  to  paper 
valued  above  that  price. 

During  the  first  year  of  the  great  European  war  the 

318 


INTO  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


industry  in  this  country  was  in  disturbed  condition.  At 
the  beginning  everybody,  apprehensive,  was  buying  every¬ 
thing  in  sight,  so  that  trade  was  booming.  Then  came  the 
reaction  to  be  expected  and  a  general  inactivity  out  of 
which  normal  conditions  gradually  returned.  Foreign 
trade  kept  up  for  a  time,  but  soon  there  was  a  dearth  of 
raw  materials,  especially  chemicals  and  colors.  The  supply 
of  pulp  was  first  abundant  but  eventually  became  scarce, 
with  prices  high.  Rags  went  along  the  same  road.  All 
kinds  of  paper  had  a  record,  for  the  year,  of  up  and  down, 
settling  finally  into  practically  normal.  In  1916  there  was 
a  marked  change.  Demand  for  paper,  especially  printing, 
increased,  and,  although  mills  were  running  at  top-notch 
the  market  could  not  be  fully  supplied.  Raw  materials 
were  scarcer  and  some  were  entirely  non-procurable.  This 
scarcity  revived  recollections  of  like  conditions  in  the  in¬ 
dustry  in  its  earlier  years.  History  was  repeating  and,  as 
then,  so  now  the  public  was  exhorted  to  help  by  saving 
rags  and  old  paper.  The  United  States  secretary  of  the 
interior  and  the  Emited  States  chamber  of  commerce  sent 
out  notices  to  be  distributed  urging  attention  to  the  needs 
of  the  paper-manufacturers  and  newspapers  carried  adver¬ 
tisements  urging  the  saving  of  waste  paper. 

Throughout  the  summer  the  situation  grew  steadily 
worse,  so  far  as  shortage  of  paper  was  concerned.  News¬ 
papers  were  especially  hard  hit,  finding  it  impossible  to 
get  paper  according  to  their  needs  and  even  the  govern¬ 
ment  printing  office  in  Washington  feared  that  it  would 
run  short.  Many  newspapers  cut  down  their  size  and  the 
American  Newspaper  Publishers  Association  and  the 
United  States  Federal  Trade  Commission  urged  publishers 
and  other  users  of  paper  to  practice  rigid  economies.  It 
was  freely -  predicted  that,  unless  consumption  could  be 
reduced,  or,  that  the  war  should  come  quickly  to  an  end, 
so  that  paper=iStock  and  chemicals  could  be  again  freely 
procured,  tbd  shor^ge  would  become  more  and  more 
procured,*  the  shortage  would  become  more  acute. 

Prices  went  up.  All  paper  was  cheap  in  1913  and  1914 
but  in  1916  all  paper  was  high  priced.  For  news,  not  under 
contract,  almost  any  price  could  be  got,  three,  four  or 


319 


A  Typical  Modern  Paper  Mill. 
The  Oxford,  in  Rumford  Falls.  Me. 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


five  cents  or  more  a  pound,  while  the  prospect  was  that, 
for  1917,  three  to  four  cents  would  be  the  market  figure 
and,  perhaps,  supply  scarce  at  that.  Book  papers  were 
eight  cents  a  pound  and  more  and  still  on  the  upward 
move.  Ground-wood  pulp,  in  September,  was  thirty  to 
thirty-five  dollars  a  ton  and  little  to  be  had.  With  supplies 
from  Scandinavia  cut  down  bleached  sulphite,  which  was 
$2.75  a  hundred  weight  in  1915,  was  now  $8.80,  and  un¬ 
bleached  $6.7.5.  And  the  outlook  was  for  higher  prices. 

Statistics  are  available  in  Lockwood’s  Directory  show¬ 
ing  the  distribution  of  the  industry  in  the  different  sections 
of  the  country  in  1916,  the  character  and  variety  of 
product,  the  equipment  and  capacity  of  the  individual  mills 
and  other  relative  matter.  Beginning  in  the  far  north¬ 
east,  Maine  was  nearly  evenly  divided  between  paper¬ 
making  and  pulp-making.  Its  large  forests  made  it  an 
inviting  region  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  wood-pulp  indus¬ 
try  and  for  the  concentration  of  much  making  of  news 
and  other  papers  near  the  source  of  pulp  supply.  In  the 
state  there  were  thirty  paper-mills  and  forty  pulp-mills. 
The  pulp-mills  had  a  daily  capacity  of  nearly  3,200  tons, 
of  which  a  little  more  than  four  hundred  tons  was  soda- 
fibre,  over  1,500  tons  ground-wood  and  the  balance  sul¬ 
phite-fibre.  The  paper-mills  produced  news,  book,  writ¬ 
ing,  bond,  ledger,  board,  manilla,  kraft,  wrapping,  bag, 
and  other  varieties,  their  daily  capacity  being  about  2,400 
tons.  Of  this  total,  about  one-half  was  news,  the  leading 
producers  in  this  line  being,  the  mills  of  the  St.  Croix 
Paper  Company  at  Woodland;  the  International  Paper 
Company  at  Orono  and  Chisholm ;  the  Great  Northern 
Paper  Company  at  Millinocket  and  Madison ;  and  the 
Pejepscot  Paper  Company  at  Brunswick  and  Lisbon  Falls, 
which  company  had  three  paper-mills  with  daily  capacity  of 
three  hundred  and  twenty  tons  of  news  and  wrappers,  and 
three  pulp  mills  able  to  produce  daily  three  hundred  tons 
of  ground-wood  and  seventy  tons  of  sulphite-fibre.  The 
book-paper  production  of  the  state,  amounting  daily  to 
nearly  four  hundred  and  fifty  tons,  was  almost  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  the  Oxford  Paper  Company  at  Rumford, 
and  S.  D.  Warren  &  Co.,  at  Cumberland  Mills,  dividing 

321 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


nearly  half  and  half,  while  the  Hollingsworth  and  Whit¬ 
ney  Company,  at  Winslow  and  the  Rumford  Falls  mill 
of  the  International  Paper  Company,  one  with  two  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifteen  tons  and  the  other  with  one  hundred  and 
ninety  tons  daily,  divided  most  of  the  manilla  business. 

One  of  the  historic  mill  sites  was  that  occupied  by  the 
Warren  plant  in  Gardiner.  Francis  Richards,  before  the 


S.  D.  Warren. 


middle  of  the  last  century,  operated  the  second  mill  in 
Gardiner  and  members  of  his  family  succeeded  him  as 
the  Richards  Paper  Company  in  1884  and  after.  The 
company  also  had  pulp  mills  in  South  Gardiner  and  Skow- 
hegan.  Another  Gardiner  present-day  mill,  the  Copsecook. 
had  its  beginning  in  the  enterprise  of  the  Great  Falls  Com¬ 
pany  in  1852  but  its  fame  has  been  achieved  by  the  firm 
of  S.  D.  Warren  &  Co.,  by  whom  it  was  purchased  about 
1854.  It  is  a  small  affair  compared  with  the  other  S.  D. 

322 


INTO  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


Warren  plant,  at  Cumberland  Mills,  on  the  Presumpscot 
river,  with  its  forty-five  beating  and  nineteen  refining  en¬ 
gines,  and  twelve  Fourdriners,  daily  capacity  of  two  hun¬ 
dred  tons  of  book  and  one  hundred  tons  of  soda  fibre. 

In  New  Hampshire  precedence  was  maintained  by  the 
two  mills  of  the  Berlin  Mills  Company,  the  Riverside, 
daily  capacity  of  fifty  tons  of  kraft,  and  the  Cascade,  with 
two  hundred  and  twenty-five  tons  of  news  and  kraft ;  the 
Glen  mill  of  Berlin,  with  over  one  hundred  tons  of  news 
daily;  the  two  mills  of  the  Odell  Manufacturing  Company, 


W.  H.  Sharp.  W.  N.  Caldwell. 

daily  capacity  of  one  hundred  tons  of  bond,  manilla  bag 
and  other  papers;  the  Claremont,  sixty  tons  manilla  and 
wrapping  and  the  Henry  mill  in  Lincoln,  eighty  tons  bond, 
envelope  and  manilla.  The  twenty-nine  mills  of  the  state 
had  a  total  daily  capacity  of  nine  hundred  tons.  Nearly 
one-half  the  pulp  of  the  state  came  from  the  Burgess  Sul¬ 
phite  Fibre  Company,  in  Berlin,  which  could  produce  four 
hundred  and  fifty  tons  of  bleached  sulphite-fibre  every  day. 
Next  were  the  Berlin  Mills  Company,  producing  daily  one 
hundred  and  fifty  tons  of  ground-wood  and  one  hundred 
and  twenty  tons  of  sulphite  and  then  the  Glen  mill  with 
daily  capacity  of  eighty  tons  of  ground-wood  and  sixty  tons 

323 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


of  sulphite-fibre.  The  thirteen  pulp  mills  of  the  state  had 
a  daily  capacity  of  1,100  tons,  of  which  seven  hundred  and 
eighty  was  ground-wood. 

Of  the  eighteen  mills  in  Vermont  one  only  was  of  much 
size,  the  Fall  Mountain,  of  Bellows  Falls,  with  daily 
capacity  of  eighty-two  tons  of  news,  manilla  and  special¬ 
ties  ;  the  next  largest  was  the  Fitzdale  mill  of  forty  tons 
of  news  daily.  The  product  of  the  other  mills  was  hang¬ 
ing,  manilla,  kraft,  tissue,  blotting,  boards  and  specialties, 
the  total  capacity  of  all  being  only  a  little  more  than  three 
hundred  and  fifty  tons  a  day.  Eleven  pulp-mills  had  a 


A.  W.  Esleeck.  Gecrge  W.  Wheelwright. 


daily  capacity  of  nearly  four  hundred  tons,  all  but  twenty- 
five  tons  being  ground-wood. 

In  number  of  mills,  quality,  quantity  and  value  of  prod¬ 
uct  Massachusetts  still  held  its  preeminent  position.  It 
was  entirely  a  paper-manufacturing  state  having  only  five 
pulp  mills  with  daily  capacity  of  one  hundred  and  eighteen 
tons.  But  its  paper-mills  were  one  hundred  and  eight. 
Most  were  making  the  higher  grades  of  paper  such  as  bond, 
ledger,  linen,  writing  and  book,  although  many  of  the 
smaller  mills  inadc  board,  hanging,  tissue,  manilla,  roofing, 
sheathing,  wrapping,  kraft,  blotting  and  other  kinds.  The 

324 


INTO  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


total  daily  capacity  of  all  was  over  two  thousand  tons,  the 
largest  producers  under  one  management  being  the  mills 
of  the  American  Writing  Paper  Company,  daily  capacity 
three  hundred  and  fourteen  tons.  Then  there  were :  the 
mill  of  Bird  &  Son,  one  hundred  tons  daily  of  roofing  and 
wrapping;  the  eight  mills  of  Crocker,  Burbank  &  Co.,  two 
hundred  tons  daily  of  book,  bristol  and  card;  the  mill  of 
the  Haverhill  Box  Board  Company,  one  hundred  and 
eighty  tons  daily  of  board;  the  mill  of  the  Champion-In¬ 
ternational  Company,  one  hundred  tons  daily  of  coated ; 
the  four  mills  of  the  Fitchburg  Paper  Company,  seventy 
tons  daily ;  the  mill  of  the  Nashua  River  Paper  Company, 
seventy-five  tons  daily  of  book,  bond  and  other  varieties ; 
the  mill  of  the  Chemical  Paper  Manufacturing  Company, 
fifty  tons  daily  of  bond,  linen,  cover,  writing  papetrie  and 
other  fine  papers ;  the  three  mills  of  the  George  W.  Wheel¬ 
wright  Paper  Company,  fifty-seven  tons  of  book,  coating 
and  bristol. 

In  Massachusetts  the  town  of  Milton  no  longer  held 
the  prestige  which  it  had  won  as  the  first  paper-making 
village  in  that  state  and  the  fifth  in  the  United  States.  Rut 
descendants  of  those  early  active  in  the  mills  there  were 
still  identified  with  the  industry.  At  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century  Boies  &  Tileston  there  owned  and  oper¬ 
ated  both  the  upper  and  the  lower  mill,  that  of  Boies  & 
Clark,  1765,  and  that  of  Boies  &  McLean,  1771.  Mark 
Hollingsworth,  who  was  born  in  Delaware  in  1777,  came 
to  Milton  in  1798  and  connected  himself  with  Boies  & 
Tileston.  When  Jeremiah  S.  Boies  retired,  about  1809, 
the  firm  became  Tileston  &  Hollingsworth  and  the  new 
owners  enlarged  and  improved  both  mills.  Mr.  Hollings¬ 
worth,  who  was  a  trained  paper-maker,  was  the  manufac¬ 
turer  of  the  concern.  He  died  in 'Milton  in  1855.  He 
was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Amor  TTollingsworfh,  who  was 
born  in  1808  and  died  in  1871  and  the  latter,  in  turn,  was 
succeeded  by  his  son,  .Amor  L.  Hollingsworth  who  was 
born  in  1837  and  died  in  1907  and  was  president  of  Tiles¬ 
ton  &  Hollingsworth  when  the  concern  was  incor])orated. 
Upon  the  death  of  Amor  L.  Hollingsworth,  his  son.  Amor 
Hollingsworth,  became  president  of  the  Tileston  &  Hol- 


325 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


lingsworth  Company.  Thus  for  four  generations  and  for 
more  than  one  hundred  years  have  the  Hollingsworths 
been  identified  with  paper-manufacturing  in  Massachu¬ 
setts.  Lineal  descendants  of  Mark  Hollingsworth  and 
Daniel  Vose,  who  was  also  early  identified  with  the  first 
Milton  mills,  are  Z,  T.  Hollingsworth,  V.  Hollingsworth 
and  Charles  Vose  who,  as  the  Hollingsworth  &  Vose 
Company,  have  mills  in  East  Walpole  and  West  Groton. 

Watertown,  adjoining  Newton,  had  a  mill  in  1839 
operated  by  William  May,  that  started  a  business  which 
endured  there  for  more  than  half  a  century.  In  the  course 
of  time  Leonard  Whitney,  who  had  worked  in  the  mill, 
acquired  possession  of  the  property,  and,  with  his  son, 
operated  it.  In  1862  E.  A.  Hollingsworth  purchased  an 
interest  and  the  business  was  continued  under  the  name 


Mark  Hollingsworth. 

326 


INTO  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


of  Hollingsworth  &  Whitney,  as  a  partnership  and  as  a 
corporation.  Mr.  Whitney  died  in  1881  and  Mr.  Hol¬ 
lingsworth  in  1882,  but  the  business  remained  in  the  hands 
of  their  descendants.  In  1884  and  after,  the  concern  con¬ 
tinued  to  operate  two  manilla  mills  in  Watertown  and  also 
had  two  manilla  mills  in  Gardiner,  Me.,  the  Cobbossee 
and  the  Aroostook  both  which,  in  1916,  were  owned  and 
operated  by  the  same  corporation.  The  Cobbossee  mill  is 
on  the  site  of  a  mill  built  in  1865. 

There  was  one  lone  mill  in  Rhode  Island,  the  Phillips- 
dale,  equipped  with  a  single  machine  for  producing  fifty 
tons  of  felt  and  sheathing  every  day. 

Connecticut  had  forty-six  paper  mills  and  one  pulp  mill. 
Most  of  the  mills  were  small  and  twenty-nine  of  them 
were  situated  in  Hartford  county  where  the  business  had 
its  beginning  before  the  revolution.  The  daily  capacity 
of  all  the  mills  was  about  six  hundred  and  fifty  tons,  the 
Thames  River  Specialties  Company,  in  Montville,  the  New 
Haven  Pulp  and  Board  Company  and  the  Uncas  mill  of 
the  American  Straw  Board  Company,  in  Norwich,  each 
with  daily  capacity  of  one  hundred  tons ;  and  the  Wind¬ 
sor  Locks  mill  of  the  American  Writing  Paper  Company, 
daily  capacity  sixty-five  tons,  being  the  largest  producers. 

For  more  than  half  a  century  the  name  of  Case  was 
identified  with  the  industry  in  this  state  and  it  was  still 
most  conspicuous  in  1916.  A.  Wells  Case  and  one  of  his 
brothers  learned  the  trade  in  the  old  Bunce  mills.  At 
Highlands,  in  Manchester,  they  built  a  mill,  in  1862,  and 
during  the  next  twelve  years  lost  it  three  times  by  fire 
and  once  by  a  flood.  Finally  they  built  one  in  1874  and 
another  in  1884,  and  these  endured  into  the  next  century. 
In  1916  the  mill  of  the  A.  Willard  Case  Company  was  in 
Manchester,  that  of  Case  Brothers  in  South  Manchester, 
that  of  the  Case  Manufacturing  Company  in  Unionville, 
that  of  Case  &  Marshall  in  Burnside,  with  all  which  A. 
Willard  Case,  Lawrence  W.  Case  and  Raymond  S.  Case 
were  interconnected.  Then  there  was  the  mill  of  the  Case 
&  Risley  Paper  Company  in  Oneco  and  the  Palisade  mill 
of  the  Riverton  Company — the  only  pulp-mill  in  the  state — 
which  made  pulp  for  all  the  Case  paper-mills. 


327 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


New  York  had  no  near  rival  in  number  of  mills  or  im¬ 
portance  and  value  of  product.  Its  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
two  paper-mills  had  a  daily  capacity  of  4,636  tons  of  all 
kinds  of  paper.  Twenty-three  mills  alone  could  produce 
nearly  2,000  tons,  principally  news.  The  several  mills — 
paper  and  pulp — of  the  International  Paper  Company ;  the 
Knowlton,  the  Taggart  and  the  Remington  plants;  the 
Saratoga  county  mills  of  the  West  Virginia  Pulp  and 
Paper  Company ;  the  mills  of  the  Gould  Paper  Company ; 
the  mills  of  the  St.  Regis  Paper  Company;  the  Dexter 


Edwin  R.  Redhead.  John  F.  King. 

Sulphite  Pulp  and  Paper  Company,  and  others ;  were  im¬ 
pressive  factors  in  maintaining  the  industry  in  the  State 
at  a  high  point  of  efficiency. 

Foremost  in  capacity  for  news  were  the  Glens  Falls,  one 
hundred  and  forty-two  tons ;  the  Finch  Pruyn  &  Co.  mill, 
one  hundred  and  five  tons ;  the  Tidewater  mill  in  Brook¬ 
lyn,  one  hundred  tons ;  (lie  Niagara  Falls,  one  hundred  and 
fifty-nine  tons;  the  Fort  Edward  mill,  one  hundred  and 
tliirty-tliree  tons;  tlie  Hudson  River  mill  at  Palmer,  two 
hundred  and  sixty-two  tons;  the  De  Grasse  mill  at  Pyrites, 
one  luindred  and  sixty  tons,  and  the  Woods  Falls  mill  at 
Watertown,  one  hundred  and  seventeen  tons.'  Next  in  line 


328 


INTO  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


were  the  thirty  board  mills,  with  daily  capacity  of  about 
1,200  tons.  Most  of  these  were  small,  producing  less  than 
fifty  tons  a  day,  but  two  were  large,  the  mill  of  the  Pier- 
mont  Paper  Company,  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  tons 
daily  and  the  mill  of  the  Tonawanda  Board  and  Paper 
Company,  one  hundred  and  fifty  tons.  And  the  mill  of 
the  Racquette  River  Paper  Company  of  the  Sisson  family, 
with  daily  capacity  of  seventy  tons  of  manilla  envelope, 
express  and  parchment,  was  listed  in  the  front  ranks. 

The  Goulds,  controlling  the  Gould  Paper  Company  and 


J.  A.  OuTTERSON.  B.  B.  Taggart. 


the  St,  Regis  Paper  Company,  became  active  and  influential 
in  paper-manufacturing  in  Jefferson  and  Lewis  counties. 
Their  St.  Regis  mills,  in  Deferiet,  Black  River  and  Her¬ 
rings,  had  a  daily  capacity  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  tons 
of  news,  twenty  tons  of  manilla,  twenty  tons  of  board,  two 
hundred  and  forty  tons  of  ground-wood,  and  one  hundred 
and  sixty  tons  of  sulphite-fibre ;  the  Gould  mills,  in  Lyons 
halls  and  Port  Leyden,  had  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
tons  of  news  and  eighteen  tons  of  manilla,  with  five  pulp- 
mills  equipped  with  twenty  grinders  for  ground-wood  and 
three  digesters  for  sulphite.  The -St.  Regis  also  owned 

329 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


fifty-eight  thousand  acres  of  timber  land  for  pulp  pur¬ 
poses.  In  December,  1916,  the  Goulds  sold  their  interests 
in  this  company  to  another  group  of  wealthy  financiers. 

James  A.  Outterson  became  one  of  the  biggest  manu¬ 
facturers  in  the  Black  River  section  at  this  time.  He  was 
president  of  the  Carthage  Sulphite  Pulp  and  Paper  Com¬ 
pany,  the  Champion  Paper  Company,  the  West  End 
Paper  Company  and  the  De  Grasse  Paper  Company,  his 
four  plants  having  a  daily  capacity  of  nearly  two  hundred 
tons  of  news  and  boards,  nearly  one  hundred  tons  of 
ground-wood  and  sixty  tons  of  sulphite-fibre. 

The  famous  Remington  mills  finally  passed  out  of  the 
Remington  family  possession.  In  1915  a  receiver  was  ap¬ 
pointed  for  the  property  which,  late  in  1916,  was  sold  to 
new  owners,  prominent  among  whom  and  holding  a  con¬ 
trolling  interest,  were  Daniel  R.  Hanna  and  his  sons. 

The  ninety-five  pulp-mills  of  the  state  had  a  daily 
capacity  of  about  3,500  tons,  of  which  2,400  tons  was 
ground-wood  and  nearly  nine  hundred  tons  sulphite-fibre. 
Most  of  this  pulp  was  made  by  paper-mill  companies  for 
their  own  use,  comparatively  little  being  sold  outside. 
There  were  eleven  pulp-mills  that  manufactured  for  the 
market  but  their  output  was  not  large,  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  tons  daily.  The  mills  of  largest  capacity  were  in 
Cadyville,  Corinth,  Cohoes,  D'eferiet,  Fort  Edward,  Glens 
Falls,  Hudson  Falls,  Herrings,  Hinckley,  Lockport,  Me- 
chanicsville,  Niagara  Falls,  Norfolk,  Palmer  and  Water- 
town. 

Expansion  of  paper-making  at  Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y., 
began  after  1850.  Mills  on  Bath  Island  had  been  operated 
with  more  or  less  success  from  1823,  but  no  particular  at¬ 
tention  had  been  given  to  the  utilization  of  the  water-power 
there  running  to  waste.  In  1852  Stoughton  Pettebone  pur¬ 
chased  a  part  interest  in  the  Bath  Island  plant  from  L.  C. 
Woodruff  and  work  was  carried  on  by  the  firm  of  Wood¬ 
ruff  &  Pettebone  until  1883  when  the  firm  was  dissolved 
and  the  Pettebone  Paper  Company  incorporated  with 
Stoughton  Pettebone,  L.  B.  Pettebone,  John  Quigley  and 
others  as  stockholders  and  officers.  When  Bath  Island 
and  adjacent  property  was  taken  by  the  state  of  New 

330 


INTO  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


York  for  a  park  reservation  the  Pettebone  Paper  Com¬ 
pany,  in  1884,  built  another  mill  on  the  banks  of  the 
hydraulic  canal  where  it  ever  after  continued.  Prior  to  this 
there  had  been  a  pulp-mill  on  the  river  bank,  built  and 
operated  by  Hill  &  Murray  but  afterward  owned  by  C.  B. 
Gaskill,  J.  J.  Macintire  and  others,  incorporated  as  the 
Cataract  Manufacturing  Company.  In  1892  the  Pettebone 
and  the  Cataract  companies  consolidated  and  formed  the 
Pettebone-Cataract  Company  which  was  still  in  existence 
in  1916,  running  both  the  paper-mill  and  the  pulp-mill. 

One  of  the  earliest  promoters  of  pulp-making  at  Niagara 
Falls  was  John  F.  Quigley.  In  1877  he  built  a  pulp-mill 
and  made  about  four  tons  a  day.  Eleven  years  later  a 
paper-mill  was  added  to  the  plant  and  Arthur  C.  Hastings, 
who  had  come  from  Rochester,  was  installed  as  manager. 
After  a  time  the  owners  of  the  plant  incorporated  as  the 
Cliff  Paper  Company  and,  in  1892,  the  business  was  sold 
by  Mr.  Quigley  to  J.  F.  Schoelkopf,  Arthur  Schoelkopf, 
Henry  Grigg,  W.  D.  Olmstead,  George  B,  Matthews  and 
Arthur  C.  Hastings,  who  gradually  expanded  the  prop¬ 
erty  into  the  establishment  as  it  was  existing  in  1916. 

Early  in  1891  the  Niagara  Glazed  Paper  Company,  pro¬ 
moted  by  Henry  M.  Robertson,  C.  B.  Gaskill  and  others, 
came  into  existence,  to  make,  principally,  glazed,  litho¬ 
graphic,  label  and  coated  papers  and  box  boards.  In  1896 
the  company  was  succeeded  by  the  Niagara  Surface  Coat¬ 
ing  Company,  of  which  John  C.  Tammerts  was  the  prin¬ 
cipal  owner,  but  that  in  time  went  out  of  existence.  An¬ 
other  early  mill  in  Niagara  was  that  of  Allan  &  Jones 
which,  in  1880,  was  taken  over  by  the  Niagara  Wood 
Paper  Company  with  Walter  Jones  as  manager,  and  ma¬ 
chinery  for  making  boards  was  then  added. 

In  1892  the  Niagara  Falls  Paper  Company  was  organ¬ 
ized  by  Lewis  A.  Hall,  J.  L.  Norton.  D.  O.  Mills,  L  C. 
Morgan  and  others  and  a  plant  was  built  that  was  then 
considered  one  of  the  most  complete  in  the  world.  The 
company  developed  its  own  water-power,  and  had  seven 
thousand  two  hundred  water  horse-power  and  two  thou¬ 
sand  three  hundred  steam  horse-power.  It  installed  one 
one  hundred  and  thirty-seven-inch  and  five  one  hundred 


331 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


and  twenty-two-inch  Fourdriniers  and  was  able  to  turn 
out  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  tons  of  news  every 
twenty-four  hours.  In  addition  there  was  a  sulphite  mill 
of  forty  tons  daily  capacity  and  a  ground- wood  mill  of 
sixty  tons  capacity.  Twenty-five  years  after  this  starting 
the  plant  was  still  in  as  full  and  effective  operation  as 
when  it  began,  the  largest  in  production  in  Niagara  Falls, 
and  a  part  of  the  International  Paper  Company. 

New  Jersey  had  fallen  largely  into  the  line  of  board 
manufacturing.  Of  the  forty-six  mills  in  the  state  twenty- 
three  were,  in  whole  or  in  part,  devoted  to  boards  and 
out  of  a  total  of  one  thousand  tons  daily  capacity  nearly 
seven  hundred  were  of  boards.  The  remaining  product 
of  three  hundred  tons  was  mostly  in  manilla,  felting,  tissue, 
building  and  other  varieties.  No  news  and  very  little 
book  was  made.  The  largest  plants  were  those  of  the  Mc- 
Ewen  Brothers,  in  Whippany,  one  hundred  and  ten  tons 
of  boards  daily ;  the  mill  of  the  FI.  W.  Johns-Manville 
Company,  one  hundred  tons  daily  of  asbestos  and  felt, 
and  the  two  mills  of  the  United  Paperboard  Company  in 
Whippany,  ninety  tons  daily. 

Pennsylvania  was  the  third  state  in  number  of  mills  and 
amount  of  product.  It  had  seventy-one  paper-mills  with 
daily  capacity  of  about  2,000  tons.  Eleven  mills  had  capac¬ 
ity  of  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  and  forty-five  tons  and 
one — the  Philadelphia  Paper  Manufacturing  Company — 
could  make  two  hundred  and  eighty  tons  of  board  every 
day.  The  property  of  the  New  York  and  Pennsylvania 
Company,  of  which  Colonel  A.  G.  Paine  was  long  the  re¬ 
sponsible  and  successful  head,  consisted  of  two  large  plants 
in  this  state,  in  addition  to  a  mill  in  New  York,  where 
fifty  tons  of  soda-fibre  were  daily  produced.  The  Johnson- 
burg  mill,  with  eight  machines  and  a  capacity  of  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  forty-five  tons  a  day  of  bond,  book,  envelope, 
writing  and  other  varieties,  had  with  it  two  pulp-mills,  one 
of  ninety  tons  daily  capacity  of  soda-fibre  and  the  other 
of  seventy-five  tons  of  bleached  sulphite.  The  mill  in  Lock 
Haven,  with  six  machines  and  daily  capacity  of  seventy 
tons  of  book,  writing,  cover,  hardware  and  other  varieties, 
had  a  pulp-mill  of  sixty-two  tons  soda-fibre  daily. 

332 


INTO  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


The  mill  of  the  Hammermill  Paper  Company,  in  Erie, 
ranked  among  the  foremost  establishments  in  the  country 
in  the  production  of  bond,  ledger,  superfine  and  writing. 
It  was  equipped  with  five  Eourdriniers  and  had  a  daily 
cap.acity  of  one  hundred  tons.  Another  notable  mill  was 
the  Delaware  of  the  Dill  &  Collins  Company,  in  Philadel¬ 
phia,  with  five  Eourdriniers  and  a  capacity  of  forty  tons 
daily  of  book  and  coated,  and  an  accompanying  pulp-mill 
for  making  twenty-three  tons  of  soda-fibre  daily.  Other 
large  establishments  with  their  daily  capacities  were :  the 
Bayless  Manufacturing  Corporation,  seventy  tons  of  bag 
and  kraft ;  the  Erank  P.  Miller  Paper  Company,  one  hun- 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


dred  tons  of  boards ;  the  H.  F.  Watson  Company,  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  twelve  tons  of  felt  and  building;  the  John  Long 
Paper  Company,  eighty  tons  of  roofing;  the  Nixon  Flat 
Rock  mills,  sixty-two  tons  of  book;  the  West  Virginia 
Pulp  and  Paper  Company’s  two  mills,  one  hundred  tons  of 
book,  writing  and  other  fine  papers ;  the  York  Haven 
Paper  Company,  seventy  tons  of  fibre  and  express  papers. 
Nearly  one-third  of  the  product  of  the  state  was  book, 
writing,  bond,  ledger,  linen,  lithograph,  and  other  papers 
in  that  class. 

Pennsylvania’s  fifteen  pulp-mills  had  a  daily  capacity  of 
seven  hundred  tons,  of  which  fully  six  hundred  and  eighty- 
five  tons  were  soda  and  sulphite-fibre,  each  about  one-half. 
Among  the  largest  pulp-mills  were  those  of  the  York 
Haven  Paper  Company,  the  West  Virginia  Pulp  and 
Paper  Company  and  the  Bayless  Manufacturing  Company. 

In  Delaware  the  plant  of  the  Jessup  &  Moore  Paper 
Company  preserved  the  traditions  of  Wilmington  on  the 
Brandywine  as  a  paper-manufacturing  locality  from  the 
time  of  the  famous  Gilpin  mill  there  before  1800.  The 
two  mills — the  Augustine  and  the  Rockland — had  a  daily 
capacity  of  over  sixty  tons  of  book,  while  the  Delaware 
pulp-mills  furnished  a  like  quantity  of  soda-fibre. 

There  has  always  been  one  solitary  mill  in  the  District 
of  Columbia.  .Succeeding  to  that  distinction,  the  District 
of  Columbia  Paper  Manufacturing  Company  was  making 
twenty-five  tons  a  day  of  blotting,  cover,  book  and  spe¬ 
cialties  in  1916. 

Maryland  became  a  more  important  paper-manufactur¬ 
ing  state  after  the  civil  war.  In  1886  twenty-nine  mills 
were  in  operation,  in  Bentley  Springs,  Chestertown,  Cono- 
wingo,  Easton,  Elkton,  Ellicott  City,  Fairhill,  Freeland, 
Grove  Run,  Hagerstown,  Hoffmanville,  Houcksville, 
Manchester,  Morgan,  Parkton,  Reisterstown,  Rising  Sun 
and  White  Hall.  Few  of  these  mills  were  of  much  im¬ 
portance.  The  largest  were :  that  of  the  Susquehanna 
Water  Power  and  Paper  Company  in  Conowingo,  daily 
capacity,  twelve  tons  book  and  news ;  The  Public  Ledger 
mills  of  George  W.  Childs  in  Elkton,  daily  capacity,  four 
tons  of  news;  the  Providence  Paper  Mills  of  William  M. 

334 


INTO  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


Singerly  in  Fairhill,  daily  capacity,  ten  tons  of  news;  the 
Chestertown  mill,  daily  capacity,  six  tons  of  straw  board ; 
the  Talbot  County  mill  in  Easton,  daily  capacity,  six  tons 
of  straw  board,  and  the  Woodbine  in  Morgan,  daily 
capacity,  five  tons  of  straw  wrapping.  Fully  one  half  the 
product  of  all  the  mills  in  the  State  was  straw  wrapping. 
Several  of  these  mills  lasted  into  the  twentieth  century ; 
those  of  the  Youngs  in  Bentley  Springs,  the  Chestertown 
straw-board  mill,  the  Antietam  in  Hagerstown  and  the 
Gunpowder  in  Parkton.  In  1916  there  were  in  Asbestos, 
Baltimore,  Bentley  Springs,  Chestertown,  Childs,  Elkton, 
Freeland,  Hagerstown,  Luke,  Parkton,  Providence,  Row- 
landville  and  White  Hall,  thirteen  paper  mills  and  two  pulp 
mills.  The  product  was  asbestos,  felt,  carpet-lining  straw 
and  other  boards,  straw  and  other  wrapping,  hanging. 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


manilla,  book,  writing  and  roofing.  The  total  daily  capacity 
was  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  tons  of  book,  one  hundred 
and  sixty-two  tons  of  other  papers  and  one  hundred  and 
fifteen  tons  of  soda  fibre.  Of  this  total,  one  hundred  and 
thirty-seven  tons  of  book,  writing  and  other  paper  and 
seventy  tons  of  soda  fibre  were  the  output  of  the  West 
Virginia  Pulp  and  Paper  Company  in  Luke.  Next  in 
quantity  of  product  was  the  Baltimore  Roofing  and  Asbes¬ 
tos  Company  with  forty  tons  of  asbestos  paper  and 
twenty-five  tons  of  wool  felt  daily.  The  Jessup  &  Moore 
Company  turned  out  daily  forty-five  tons  of  soda  fibre 
from  the  Radnor  pulp  mill  in  Elkton  and  from  their  Ken- 
more  mill  forty  tons  daily  of  book  and  writing. 

In  Virginia  there  were  ten  paper-mills,  five  pulp-mills 
and  one  combined  pulp  and  paper-mill.  The  paper-mills 
were  capable  of  producing  three  hundred  tons  daily,  of 
which  the  mill  of  the  West  Virginia  Pulp  and  Paper  Com¬ 
pany,  at  Covington,  was  credited  with  ninety-five  tons  of 
book  and  lithograph  and  the  Bedford  Pulp  and  Paper 
Company,  at  Big  Island,  with  seventy-five  tons  of  ticket 
paper.  The  pulp-mills  could  produce  two  hundred  and 
twenty-six  tons  daily,  the  West  Virginia  Company  mak¬ 
ing  one  hundred  and  twenty  tons  sulphite,  the  Bedford 
Company  thirty-nine  tons  of  ground  wood  and  the  Colum¬ 
bian  Paper  Company  sixty-seven  tons  of  soda  fibre.  In 
West  Virginia,  in  1875,  mills  existed  in  Halltown,  Shep- 
ardstown,  Wellsburg  and  Wheeling,  but,  in  1916,  the  five 
paper-mills  and  five  pulp-mills  were  in  Davis,  Halltown, 
Harper’s  Ferry,  Parsons,  Richwood  and  Wellsburg.  The 
daily  capacity  of  the  paper-mills  was  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  tons  of  board,  bag  and  specialties  and  of  the 
pulp-mills  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  tons  of  sulphite- 
fibre  and  forty-eight  tons  of  ground-wood.  The  leaders 
were  the  Parsons  Pulp  and  Paper  Company,  with  sixty 
tons  of  sulphite-fibre  daily  and  the  West  Virginia  Pulp  and- 
Paper  Company,  with  forty-five  tons  of  sulphite-fibre. 

After  the  civil  war  paper-manufacturing  was  tentatively 
resumed  in  the  south.  About  1870  there  were  several 
Georgia  mills  in  Savannah,  Atlanta,  Athens,  Conyers  and 
Newnan  and  one  on  Soap’s  creek  near  Atlanta.  Either  by 

336 


INTO  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


fire  or  by  bad  luck  all,  except  two,  soon  went  out  of  exist¬ 
ence.  In  those  days  news  sold  for  fourteen  cents  a  pound 
and  there  was  a  profit  on  it  of  about  four  cents  a  pound. 
Saxe  Anderson  bought  the  mill  on  Soap’s  creek,  added  a 
pulp-mill  and  improved  the  plant;  this  was  the  beginning 
of  the  Marietta  Pulp  Company.  About  1895  the  same 
company  bought  an  old  mill  in  Atlanta  and  converted  it 
into  a  mill  for  making  paper. 

When  the  twentieth  century  opened  mills  in  the  far 
southern  States  were:  the  Stevenson  pulp,  Stevenson, 


E.  L.  Embree.  F.  L.  Moore. 

Ala. ;  the  Pensacola,  Pensacola,  Fla. ;  the  Fulton,  Atlanta, 
Ga. ;  the  Conyers,  Conyers,  Ga. ;  the  Marietta,  Marietta, 
Ga. ;  the  Sewall,  Whitesburg,  Ga. ;  the  Fall  City,  Louis¬ 
ville,  Ky. ;  the  Wheeling,  Wheeling,  Mo. ;  the  Carolina, 
Harts ville,  S.  C. ;  the  Chattanooga  Pulp,  Chattanooga, 
Tenn. ;  the  Stone  Fort,  Manchester,  Tenn. ;  the  Tennessee 
Fibre,  Memphis,  Tenn. ;  the  Oak  Cliff  and  the  Cumberland, 
Sugarland,  Texas.  In  conjunction  with  these  paper  mills 
there  were  five  ground-wood  pulp  mills  and  three  sulphite 
mills.  The  total  daily  output  of  all  these  establishments 
was  insignificant.  It  amounted  to  twenty-six  thousand 
pounds  of  ground-wood  pulp,  thirty-four  thousand  pounds 

337 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


of  sulphite  pulp,  twenty-four  thousand  pounds  of  cotton 
kull  fibre,  fifty-nine  thousand  pounds  of  manilla,  thirty 
thousand  pounds  of  book,  two  thousand  two  hundred 
pounds  of  straw  board,  eight  thousand  pounds  of  straw 
board  and  sixty-two  thousand  pounds  of  book,  news, 
hardware,  straw,  roofing  and  manilla  wrapping. 

By  1916  Alabama,  Florida,  Kentucky  and  Missouri  were 
no  longer  paper-manufacturing  States.  In  South  Carolina 
the  Carolina  mill  remained ;  in  Tennessee,  the  Tennessee 
Fibre  and  the  Kingsport  Pulp;  in  Texas,  the  Oak  Cliff;  in 
Georgia  the  Pyntree,  Kennesaw  and  Lawrenceville  in 
place  of  those  of  1900.  North  Carolina,  Louisiana  and 
Mississippi  were  new  paper-manufacturing  States.  In 
North  Carolina  were  the  Champion  Fibre  Company  in 
Canton,  with  daily  capacity  of  28,000  pounds  of  boards, 
250,000  pounds  of  soda  fibre  and  250,000  pounds  of  sul¬ 
phite  fibre ;  the  Halifax  and  the  Roanoke  Fibre  Board  in 
Roanoke  Rapids,  producing  boards,  sulphate  fibre  and 
ground  wood.  In  Mississippi  were  the  paper  division  of 
the  Great  Southern  Lumber  Company  and  the  Louisiana 
Fibre  Company  both  in  Bogelusa  and  both  producing  con¬ 
tainer  lining  and  sulphate  pulp.  Also  in  Louisiana,  in 
Braithwaite,  was  the  idle  ground-wood  mill  of  the  Colonial 
Paper  Company  and  the  paper  mill  and  sulphite  mill  of 
the  E.  Z.  Opener  Bag  Company. 

Wisconsin  from  late  beginnings  turned  into  the  twentieth 
century  as  one  of  the  leading  states  in  the  industry. 
With  its  fifty  paper-mills  in  1916  it  ranked  only  after  New 
York,  Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania  and  with  its  forty- 
seven  pulp-mills  was  next  after  New  York.  The  mills 
produced  all  kinds  of  paper,  news,  book,  writing,  bond, 
wrapping,  tissue,  manila,  kraft,  parchment,  hanging,  boards 
and  specialties.  Their  daily  capacity  was  1,900  tons.  The 
pulp-mills  had  a  daily  capacity  of  1,000  tons  of  ground- 
wood,  eight  hundred  tons  of  sulphite-fibre  and  one  hundred 
tons  of  sulphate-fibre. 

Foremost  among  the  Wisconsin  concerns  was  that  of 
the  Kimberly-Clark  Company,  the  outgrowth  of  the  energy 
and  business  foresight  of  J.  A.  Kimberly  and  Charles 
Clark.  From  1872  until  his  death,  in  1891,  Mr.  Clark 


338 


INTO  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


was  a  conspicuous  figure  in  Wisconsin  paper-manufactur¬ 
ing.  The  company  was  incorporated  in  1907,  with  J.  A. 
Kimberly  as  president.  Its  properties  in  Appleton,  Kim¬ 
berly,  Neenah  and  Niagara  were  seven  paper-mills  with 
daily  capacity  of  about  two  hundred  and  seventy  tons  and 
three  pulp-mills  with  daily  capacity  of  nearly  two  hundred 
tons.  Other  notable  Wisconsin  concerns  that  contributed 
much  to  the  record  of  the  state  in  the  making  of  paper 
and  pulp  were  the  Riverdale  Fibre  and  Paper  Company  of 
Appleton;  the  Thilmany  Pulp  and  Paper  Company,  with 
mills  in  Appleton  and  Kaukauna;  the  Menasha  Paper 
Company,  with  pulp  and  paper-mills  in  Ashland  and  Lady¬ 
smith,  producing  daily  fifty  tons  of  paper  and  one  hundred 
and  twenty ?five  tons  of  ground-wood  and  sulphite;  the 
Nekoosa-Edwards  Paper  Company,  producing  daily  one 
hundred  and  sixty  tons  of  paper,  eighty  tons  of  ground- 
wood  and  one  hundred  and  fifteen  tons  of  sulphite-fibre ; 
the  Marathon  Paper  Mills  Company  of  Wausau,  with  daily 
capacity  of  seventy-five  tons  of  paper,  twenty  tons  of 
ground-wood  and  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  tons  of 
sulphite. 

Forty-eight  paper  mills  in  Michigan  had  a  daily  capacity 
of  nearly  2,000  tons  and  nine  pulp  mills,  three  hundred  and 
fifty  tons,  all  but  one  hundred  tons  being  sulphite  and  sul¬ 
phate-fibre.  The  character  of  product  covered  the  widest 
range,  from  news,  book,  writing  and  bond  to  board,  wrap¬ 
ping,  manilla  and  many  specialties.  Among  the  big  plants 
were  the  fourteen  mills  of  the  Bryant  Paper  Company, 
two  hundred  and  fifty  tons  daily,  of  book,  magazine  and 
other  high  grade  papers ;  the  two  mills  of  the  Bardeen 
Paper  Company,  sixty  tons  daily  of  book,  writing,  wrap¬ 
ping,  etc. ;  the  two  mills  of  the  Eddy  Paper  Company, 
one  hundred  tons  daily,  mostly  in  boards  and  cards ;  the 
Grand  Rapids  mill  of  the  American  Box  Board  Company, 
one  hundred  tons  daily;  the  mill  of  the  Boehme  &  Rauch 
Company,  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  tons  daily,  paper 
boxes  and  containers ;  the  mill  of  the  River  Raisin 
Paper  Company,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  tons  of 
boards ;  the  MacSim  Bar  Paper  Company,  one  hundred 
and  ten  tons,  book  and  boards.  Kalamazoo  was  the  paper- 

339 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


mamifactiiring-  center.  Thirteen  mills  were  there  and  their 
capacity  was  more  than  a  (jnarter  of  that  of  the  entire  state. 

Minnesota’s  nine  paper-mills  had  a  daily  capacity  of 
six  hundred  and  fifty  tons  ami  her  nine  pulp-mills,  six 
hundred  and  twenty-five  tons.  Of  the  paper  most  was 
news  and  book  to  the  amount  of  about  four  hundred  and 
seventy  tons  of  which  the  two  mills  of  the  Northwest  Pa¬ 
per  Company  had  one  hundred  and  five  tons ;  the  big  mill 
of  the  Minnesota  &  Ontario  Power  Company,  two  hun¬ 
dred  and  twenty-five  tons  and  the  mill  of  the  Watab  Pulp 
and  Paper  Company,  ninety  tons.  The  Waldorf  Box 
Board  Company  added  one  hundred  and  twenty  tons  of 
board  daily. 

In  Ohio,  with  fifty  paper-mills,  eleven  were  run  on  bond. 


INTO  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


ledger,  linen,  writing,  book  and  other  fine  papers,  their 
daily  capacity  being  about  six  hundred  and  twenty  tons. 
The  largest  producer  in  this  class  was  the  Champion 
Coated  Paper  Company  of  Hamilton,  with  ten  machines 
and  daily  capacity  of  two  hundred  and  sixty-two  tons. 
Then  came  the  Miami  Paper  Company,  one  hundred  tons 
and  the  two  mills  of  the  Mead  Pulp  and  Paper  Company, 
one  hundred  tons.  Other  mills  of  this  kind  were  small, 
producing  from  ten  to  thirty  tons  daily.  News  was  made 
in  one  mill  only  and  there  it  divided,  with  book,  fifteen 


G.  E.  Bardeen.  E.  R.  Behrend. 


tons  a  day.  Mills,  devoted,  either  wholly  or  in  part,  to 
board  and  wrapping,  were  twenty-four  in  number,  pro¬ 
ducing  daily  six  hundred  tons.  Of  these  only  seven  were 
of  much  size;  The  Lockland  of  the  Richardson  Paper 
Company,  one  hundred  and  fifty  tons;  the  Hartje,  in  Steu¬ 
benville,  one  hundred  tons ;  the  mill  of  the  Ohio  Box 
Board  Company,  in  Rittman,  one  hundred  and  ten  tons ; 
the  two  Gardner  mills  in  Middletown,  one  hundred  and 
sixty-five  tons;  the  three  mills  of  the  Fox  Paper  Com¬ 
pany,  seventy-five  tons.  The  three  active  mills  of  the 
American  Straw  Board  Company  had  a  daily  capacity  of 

341 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


one  hundred  tons.  The  total  productive  capacity  of  all 
the  paper  mills  in  the  state  was  2,000  tons  a  day,  while 
the  three  pulp-mills  could  produce  forty-four  tons.  Near¬ 
ly  one  half  the  mills  of  the  state  were  in  the  Miami  val¬ 
ley,  in  Dayton,  Franklin,  Middletown,  Hamilton  and  other 
places. 

Illinois  found  its  vogue  mostly  in  straw,  fibre  and  other 
boards.  Of  the  twenty-nine  mills  in  the  state  nineteen 
were  devoted,  in  whole  or  in  large  part,  to  that  kind  of 
paper,  their  combined  daily  capacity  being  over  nine  hun¬ 
dred  tons.  In  other  lines,  principally  roofing,  sheathing, 
wrapping,  bag  and  manilla  the  daily  capacity  of  the  other 
mills  was  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  tons.  Like  its 
neighbor,  Indiana  also  found  advantage  in  making  various 
kinds  of  boards,  seventeen  of  its  mills  having  daily  capacity 
in  that  line  of  a  little  more  than  two  hundred  tons,  while 
the  others,  given  over  principally  to  wrapping,  straw  for 
corrugating,  parchment  and  specialties,  produced  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  tons  daily.  Book,  news  and  writing 
was  made  in  two  mills.  The  four  mills  in  Iowa  were  for 
roofing,  wrapping  and  board,  their  daily  capacity  being 
nearly  eighty  tons.  Kansas  likewise,  with  four  mills,  pro¬ 
duced  only  board,  building  and  straw  corrugated  paper. 

Of  six  mills  in  California  one  only  produced  news, 
while  from  that  and  the  others  came  manilla,  tissue,  wrap¬ 
ping,  boards,  bristol,  sheathing,  felts  and  other  varieties. 
The  daily  capacity  of  the  six  was  514,000  pounds.  The 
Crown  Willamette  Paper  Company,  of  which  Wm.  Pierce 
Johnson  was  president,  had  the  news  and  tissue  producing 
mill,  and  in  connection  therewith  were  pulp  mills  with 
daily  capacity  of  40,000  pounds  of  ground-wood  fibre  and 
50,000  of  sulphite  fibre.  The  largest  producers  were  the 
California  Paper  and  Board  mills,  200,000  pounds  daily, 
and  the  Southern  Board  and  Paper  Mills,  110,000 
pounds  daily.  Also  on  the  Pacific  coast  in  1916  were  other 
enterprises  of  the  Crown  Willamette  Paper  Company. 
These  were  three  paper-mills  and  eight  pulp-mills  with 
daily  capacity  of  400,000  pounds  of  news,  110,000  pounds 
of  manilla,  wrapping,  etc.,  220,000  pounds  of  ground-wood 
and  180,000  pounds  of  sulphite  fibre;  and,  in  Washington, 

342 


INTO  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


one  paper-mill  with  daily  capacity  of  360,000  pounds  of 
news,  manilla,  etc.,  and  one  pulp  mill  with  daily  capacity  of 
140,000  pounds  of  ground-wood  and  175,000  pounds  of 
sulphite  fibre.  With  the  two  paper  mills  and  the  two  pulp 
mills  of  the  Hawley  Pulp  and  Paper  Company  in  Oregon 
and  in  Washington,  the  Everett,  the  Inland  Empire  and  the 
Northern  Board  paper-mills  and  the  Everett  soda-fibre 
mill  the  Pacific  coast  was  well  provided. 

This  broad  review  of  the  industry  in  1916  may  here 
fittingly  bring  its  history  to  a  conclusion.  It  has  been  a 
long  way  to  travel,  and  the  changes  in  the  two  hundred 
and  twenty-five  years  that  have  been  passed  in  retrospect, 
have  been  many  and  of  surpassing  interest.  Altogether 
there  is  an  amazing  comparison  between  the  solitary  Rit- 


Arthur  B.  Daniels. 

343 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  in  the  UNITED  STATES 


tenhouse  mill  of  1690,  worth  a  few  hundred  dollars,  em¬ 
ploying  three  men,  producing  annually,  perhaps,  fifteen 
hundred  reams  of  paper  and  supplying  only  the  needs  of  a 
small  community  and,  at 
the  other  end  of  the  line, 
the  great  business  of  the 
twentieth  century.  The  first 
mills  made  little  else  than 
news,  book  and  writing 
paper,  fullers’  press-boards 
and  bonnet-boards,  and 
those  in  limited  quantities. 

The  mills  in  the  United 
States  in  1916  made  two 
hundred  and  fifty  different 
kinds  of  papers,  while  the 
articles  manufactured  from 
paper  as  their  raw  material 
numbered  several  hundred. 

The  seven  hundred  estab¬ 
lishments  of  1916,  with 
paper  and  pulp  mills, 
represented  an  investment  in  capital  of  more  than 
$550,000,000;  employed  100,000  persons;  afforded  busi¬ 
ness  opportunities  to  thousands  of  others  in  the  handling 
of  their  product ;  were  the  main  support  of  hundreds  of 
other  enterprises  manufacturing  machinery  and  supplying 
raw  materials ;  had  a  daily  capacity  of  about  20,000  tons 
of  paper,  and  annually  produced  to  the  value  of  nearly 

$350,000,000. 


344 


INDEX 


Adams  &  Bishop .  180 

Adams,  Peter . 179,  257 

Aetna  Mill .  242 

Albany  Felt  Co .  182 

Albion  Mill .  248 

Albion  Paper  Co .  283 

Allan  &  Jones .  331 

Allen,  Stephen  M .  226 

Alpena  (Mich.)  Pulp  Mill...  234 

American  Box  Board  Co .  339 

American  Paper  Board  Ass’n  312 
American  Paper  &  Pulp  Ass’n  299 
American  Straw  Board  Co. . .  306 
American  Wood  Paper  Co....  230 
American  Writing  Paper  Co.  304 

Ameses,  The . 124-5,  176,  187 

Ames  Wood  Pulp  Co . 281 

Amies,  Thomas .  162 

Anderson,  Saxe .  337 

Antes,  Henry .  10 

Antietam  Mill .  335 

Appleton  Wire  Works . 185-6 

Appleton,  Wis .  281 

Appleton  Woolen  Mills .  182 

Aroostook  Mill . 327 

Asbestos  Paper .  11 

Augustine  Mill .  324 

Austin,  Cyrus .  98 

Babcock,  Samuel .  85 

Bagg,  Aaron .  245 

Baldwin,  W.  &  Co. .  180 

Baltimore  Roofing 

&  Asbestos  Co .  336 

Barber,  O.  C .  306 

Barclay,  Henry .  179 

Bardeen  Paper  Co .  339 

Bayless  Manufacturing  Co...  333 

Bay  State  Mill .  243 

Beach,  Hommerken  &  Kearney  180 

Beach,  Moses  Y . 180,  189 

Beardslee,  George  W .  225 

Beaver,  John .  159 

Becketts,  The . 279 

Becking,  Frederick .  49 

Bedford  Pulp  &  Paper  Co. . . .  336 

Beebe  &  Holbrook .  284 

Bellamy,  William .  39 


Bemis  family . 80,  135,  136 

Bemis  Mill .  81 

Bemis  Paper  Co .  283 

Benninghofen,  John  W .  182 

Berkshire  County. ...  127,  196,241 

Berlin  Mills  Co .  323 

Biddis,  John .  98 

Bird  family. ..  132,  189,  256-7,  325 

Blanchard,  The .  137 

Boehme  &  Rauch  Co .  339 

Boies  &  Clark .  325 

Boies  &  McLean .  325 

Boies  &  Tileston .  325 

Boies,  Jeremiah  L....24,  132,  325 

Boies,  John . 23,  24,  51,  83 

Bowman,  Jacob .  159 

Bowman,  William .  125 

Boyce,  James .  23 

Boyd,  Robert .  51 

Bradford,  Andrew... 9,  16,  17,  70 
Bradford,  William. 3,  6,  15,  16,  17 

Brewer,  Chauncey .  125 

Brown  &  Sellers .  185 

Brown  Paper  Co.,  L.  L...247,  301 

Brown,  Thomas .  11 

Brownville  Box  &  Paper  Co. .  263 

Brighter,  John .  11 

Bryant  Paper  Co . 310,  339 

Buchanan  &  Bolt  Wire  Co..  .184-5 

Buchanans,  The .  184 

Buel,  David .  117 

BulHs  Mill .  260 

Bunce,  Charles .  90 

Burbank  Mill .  253 

Burbanks,.... 58,  87,  137,  253,  303 

Burgess,  Hugh .  226 

Burgess  Sulphite  Fibre  Co _  323 

Butler  &  Hudson .  202 

Butler,  John .  90 

Cabbie  Excelsior  Wire 

Manufacturing  Co .  186 

Cabbie,  William .  184 

Cady,  Eleazer .  202 

Calder,  James .  52 

Calhoun,  John .  161 

California  .  342 

California  Paper  &  Board  Mills  342 


346 


INDEX 


Cameron,  D . 

Canadian  Reciprocity . 

Carew  Manufacturing  Co. 


Carnes,  John . 98, 

Carney,  Michael . 80, 

Carolina  Mill . 


Carpenter,  Samuel . 

Carsons,  The . 

Carthage  Sulphite 

Pulp  &  Paper  Co . 

Case,  A.  Wells . 

Caswell,  Gurdon  and  Henry. 
Cataract  Manufacturing  Co.. . 

Census  Statistics . 106,  122, 

209,  239,  244,  259,  271,  289, 

Centennial  Mill . 

Chamberlain,  Joseph . 

Champion  Coated  Paper  Co.. 

Champion  Fibre  Co . 310, 

Champion-International  Co. . . 

Champion  Paper  Co . 

Chattanooga  Pulp  Mill . 

Chelsea  Manufacturing  Co.... 

Chemical  Paper  Mfg.  Co . 

Cheney-Bigelow  Wire  Works. 

Chestertown  mill . 

Childs,  George  W . 

Chisholm,  Hugh  J . 

Chittenden,  George . 

Church,  Samuel  and  Luman.. 
Cincinnati  Steam  Paper  Mill.. 

Clapp,  Keeney  &  Co . 

Claremont  Mill . 

Clark,  Charles . 

Clark,  Henry  W . 

Clark,  John . 114, 

Clarke  &  Hawes  Co . 

Garke,  Richard . 23, 

Cliff  Paper  Co . 

Cobbossee  Mill . 

Coles,  Abraham . 

Colin  Gardner  Paper  Co . 

Collier,  John . 

Collins  Paper  Co . 

Colonial  mills . 

Colonial  Paper  Co . 


Colonial  printing . 2, 

Coltsville  Mill . 

Columbia  County . 202,  259, 


Columbia  Mill,  Lee,  Mass, 


Columbia  Paper  Co .  336 

Columbia  River  Paper  Co....  310 


Columbian  Straw  Paper  Co..  312 

Connecticut  . 35,  89,  139,  202 

257,  274,  327 
Connecticut  River  Paper  Co..  284 

Consolidations  .  302 

Consolidated  S.  O.  S.  Bag  Co.  308 
Continental  Paper  Bag  Co. . . .  309 
Continental  Wall  Paper  Co. ..  312 

Conyers  Mill .  337 

Copsecook  Mill .  322 

Costs  . 314 

Coulter,  John .  159 

Cox  family.  The. . .  .125,  132-9,  189 

Craig,  Elij  ah .  98 

Cranes,  The . 114,  127,  243 

Crehores,  The . 132,  198-9 

Crevacoeur,  J.  Hector  St.  John  213 

Crocker,  Alvah . 238,  253 

Crocker,  Burbank  &  Co.  ..253,  325 
Crocker  Manufacturing  Co.. . .  248 

Crocker-McElwain  Co .  248 

Crombie,  J.  H .  281 

Crown-Columbia 

Pulp  &  Paper  Co .  310 

Crown  Paper  Co .  310 

Crown  Willamette  Paper  Co.  .342 

Cumberland  Mill .  337 

Curtis  family.  The. . . .  135,  198,  303 

Curtisville  Pulp-Mill . 235 

Cylinder  Machine,  First .  175 

Davis  &  Co,  F.  M .  281 

Davis,  John  B .  204 

Day,  Joseph  F .  139 

Dayton  Paper  Mills .  276 

Defiance  Mill .  244 

De  Grasse  Mill . 328-30 

Delaware . 92,  157,  275,  334 

Delaware  Mill .  332 

Denison  &  Co .  273 

Denison  &  Turner .  281 

Dering,  Henry . 19,  21 

DeWees  family.  The . 10,  70 

De  Witt  Wire  Cloth  Co . 184-6 

Dexter,  Charles  H .  258 

Dexter  Sulphite 

Pulp  &  Paper  Co .  328 

Dickinson,  John .  174 


280 

317 

250 

100 

97 

337 

34 

129 

330 

327 

152 

331 

141 

314 

244 

257 

341 

338 

325 

330 

337 

257 

328 

185 

335 

334 

303 

156 

130 

167 

202 

323 

338 

155 

156 

278 

24 

331 

327 

156 

280 

26 

247 

18 

338 

17 

243 

260 

196 


INDEX 


347 


Dill  &  Collins  Co .  333 

District  of  Columbia 
Paper  Manufacturing  Co...  334 

Dodge,  Joseph .  132 

Dodge,  Philip  T .  303 

Dorsett,  James .  37 

Duckett,  John  B .  162 

Dupont  &  Co . • .  169 

Durant,  William .  52 

Duval,  Joseph .  165 

Eagle  Paper  Co .  280 

Eagle  Mill . 150,  242 

Eastern  Box  Board  Ass’n....  312 

Eastern  Manufacturing  Co....  301 

Eastwood,  John . 184-6 

Eckstein,  Samuel . 189,  266 

Eddy  Paper  Co .  339 

Eden  Vale  Mill .  83 

Eliot,  Simon .  135 

Elms,  Thomas .  49 

Ensign,  Perley .  92 

Enterprise  Mill .  242 

Ephrata  Mill . 29,  30-32 

Equipmenit . 146,  296 

European  War .  318 

Everett  Mills .  343 

Excello  Mill .  277 

Exports  .  291 

E.  Z.  Opener  Bag  Co .  338 

Fall  City  Mill .  337 

Fall  Mountain  Mill .  324 

Faneuil,  Benjamin . 19-21 

Feinour  &  Nixon . 223-8 

Felt  Manufacturing .  181 

Ferra,  John .  163 

Fibre  and  Manilla  Association  312 

Field,  Cyrus  W . 197,  255 

Finch,  Pru3m  &  Co . 310,  328 

Fisher,  Miers .  92 

Fitchburg  Duck  Mills .  182 

Fitchburg,  Mass.,  Mills .  254 

Fitchburg  Paper  Co .  325 

Fitzdale  Mill . , .  324 

Flat  Rock  Mills. .  .  .223-8,  266,  334 

Fleet,  Thomas .  45 

Fletcher,  George  N .  234 

Foreign  Trade . 291 

Fort  Edward  Mill . 328 


Fourdriniers  . 172-9,  293-6 

Fox  Paper  Co .  341 

Fox  River .  281 

Franklin,  Benjamin . 13,  92 

Franklin  Mill . 248 

Franklin  Paper  Co . 280-3 

Friend,  George  H .  279 

Frontenac  Paper  Co . 263 

Hawes  Co.,  C.  L .  278 

Frost,  Joshua .  125 

Fry,  Richard . 25-28 

Fuller,  Amasa .  132 

Fuller,  Andrew .  181 

Fulton  Mill . 337 

Funk,  Jacob  and  Samuel .  29 

Gaine,  Hugh . 36,  60 

Gardiner  Paper  Co . 310,  341 

Gardiner,  Robt  H .  139 

Garrett,  Edwin .  165 

Gaskill,  C.  B .  331 

General  Paper  Co .  312 

Georgia  .  336 

Gibbs,  John .  133 

Gilpin  Mill .  157 

Gilpins,  The . 92,  175 

Gleeson,  Thomas  E .  186 

Glen  Manufacturing  Co . 294 

Glen  Mill .  323 

Glens  Falls  Paper  Mill  Co. 294,  328 

Globe  Paper  Co .  263 

Goddard,  William .  96 

Goodwins,  The . 90,  257 

Gore,  Christopher .  83 

Gorgas,  John .  10 

Gould  Paper  Co . 328-9 

Government  Mill .  243 

Graham,  Thomas . 167,  276 

Grant,  Moses .  135 

Grant,  Warren  &  Co .  273 

Great  Falls  Co .  323 

Great  Northern  Paper  Co.  309-21 
Great  Southern  Lumber  Co.. .  338 

Greenleaf  &  Taylor . 126,  246 

Greenleaf,  Orick  H .  246 

Gunpowder  Mill .  335 

Halifax  Mills .  338 

Hall,  Lewis  A .  331 

Hamilton  &  Wright . 203 


348 


INDEX 


Hammermill  Paper  Co .  333 

Hampden  Paper  Co . 247,  283-4 

Hampshire  Paper  Co . 249,  251 

Hancock,  Thomas . 19,  22 

Hand-made  paper .  301 

Hanna,  Daniel  R .  330 

Hanna,  Samuel .  260 

Harding,  Irwin  &  Co .  277 

Harding  Paper  Co .  278 

Harris  &  Cox .  139 

Harris,  W.  0 .  168 

Hartje  Mills .  341 

Hastings,  Arthur  C . 305,  331 

Haverhill  Box  Board  Co .  325 

Hawley  Pulp  &  Paper  Co .  343 

Hayes,  O.  B .  167 

Hazleton,  John .  23 

Hecksher,  August .  308 

Heller  &  Merz .  295 

Henchman,  Daniel . 19,  22-7 

Henry  Mill .  323 

Hill  &  Murray .  331 

Hill,  John  M .  168 

Hoagland,  Daniel .  156 

Holbrook,  George  B .  284 

Holgan,  John .  39 

Hollander  engines . 58,  171 

Hollingsworths.  .24,  132,  220,  325 

Hollingsworth  &  Vose  Co .  326 

Hollingsworth  &  Whitney ..  .322-7 

Hollis,  Thomas .  282 

Holly  well  Mill .  222 

Holmes,  Joseph  E .  225 

Holt,  John .  SO 

Holyoke,  Mass . 244,  283-4 

Holyoke  Paper  Co .  246 

Holyoke  Wire  Works .  184 

Houghton,  Thomas . 72,85,  137 

Howard  &  Lathrop .  178 

Howard,  Thomas .  282 

Howe  &  Goddard .  181 

Howe,  Henry  P .  135 

Howells,  Frank .  165 

Hubbard,  Amos  H . 141,  180 

Hubbard,  Thomas .  36 

Hudson  River  Mill .  328 

Hudson  River  Pulp  & 

Paper  Co . 238,  294 

Hudsons,  The . 90,  180,  202 

Humphreys,  David .  139 


Humphreysville  Mill . 140,  202 

Huntington,  Andrew .  141 

Hurd,  William .  135 

Hurlbut,  Thomas . 131,  197 

Hurlburt  Manufacturing  Co..  202 

Illinois  .  342 

Imperial  Coating  Mills .  310 

Imports . 219,291,  317 

Indiana  . 206,  342 

Inland  Empire  Mills .  343 

Interlake  Pulp  &  Paper  Co...  313 
International  Paper  Co.. 302,  321-8 
International  Sulphite  Fibre 

&  Paper  Co .  234 

Inventors . 188-9 

Iowa  .  342 

Irwin,  George  H .  277 

Ivy  Mill . 12,  14,  53-7,  69,  205 

Jackson  &  Sharpless .  59 

Jackson,  Samuel . 95,  163 

Jacob  &  Hicks .  169 

Jefferson  Paper  Co .  264 

Jessup  &  Moore . 228,  334-6 

Jessup,  Alfred  B .  265 

John  Edwards  Mfg.  Co .  310 

Johns-Manvilie  Co.,  H.  W....  332 

Johnson,  Albert .  181 

Johnson,  Wm.  Pierce .  342 

Jones,  Richard  L .  257 

Jones,  Walter .  331 

Journalism,  Paper  Trade . 298 

Kamargo  Mill .  261 

Kansas  .  342 

Katz,  Henry .  49 

Keen,  Morris  L .  227 

Keller,  Friedrich  Gottlob . 234 

Kendall,  Amos .  169 

Kenmore  Mill .  336 

Kennesaw  Mill .  338 

Kentucky  . 97,  169,  209 

Kimberly-Clark  Co . 281,  338 

Kinsey,  Charles . 174,  189 

Kingsland,  J.  (k  R .  183 

Kingsport  Pulp  Mill .  338 

Knox,  D.  S .  160 

Knox  Woolen  Co .  182 

Knowlton  &  Rice . 153,  261 

Knowlton  Brothers.  154,  261-3,  328 


INDEX 


349 


Knowlton,  F.  D .  152  Massachusetts  ...19,80,  114,  124-7 

Koch,  Louis .  226  143,  196-9,  241,  274,  283,  324 

Kugler,  Matthias .  165  Massachusetts  Institute  of 

Technology  .  301 

Laflins,  The .  196  Massasoit  Paper  Mfg.  Co....  247 

Langstroth,  Thomas .  174  Matson,  Aaron .  94 

Laurie,  Adam .  279  Matthews,  John .  94 

Laurenceville  Mill .  338  Mead  Pulp  &  Paper  Co .  341 

Ledyard,  Austin .  89  Mead,  D.  E . 277 

Leffingwell,  Christopher .  35  Megargee  Brothers . 228,  265 

Lennie  Mills .  94  Menasha  Paper  Co .  339 

Lewis  family . 94,  279  Miami  Paper  Co .  341 

Lewis  Wire  Works .  186  Michigan . 234,  339 

Lindsay  Wire  Weaving  Co. .. .  186  Middletown  Paper  Bag  Co.. . .  310 

Little,  Arthur  D .  301  Miller  Paper  Co.,  Frank  P. .  ..  333 


Livingston,  R.  R . 

....  99 

Miller,  Warner . 

....  238 

Lockland  Mill . 

....  341 

Millinocket  . 

....  309 

Lockport  Felt  Co . 

. ...  182 

Mills,  D.  0 . 

....  331 

Lockwood,  Howard . 

. ...  298 

Milton,  Mass.. 21-4,  41,  51,  256,  325 

Long  Paper  Co.,  John. . . . 

....  334 

Minnesota . 

....  340 

Loomis  family . 

....  153 

Minnesota  & 

Looseley,  Charles . 

....  49 

Ontario  Power  Co . 

....  340 

Lore,  M . 

....  160 

Mitchell,  Sidney . 

....  308 

Loudon,  Samuel . 

....  51 

Modes,  The . 

....  163 

Louisianna  Fibre  Co . 

....  338 

Montague  Paper  Co . 

.  238 

Low,  Asa . 

....  274 

Mooney,  Isaac . 

....  206 

Ludington  &  Garland . 

....  280 

Moore,  Bloomfield  H . 

. ...  265 

Luke,  John  G . 

....  310 

Moore,  Uriah . 

. . . .  83 

Lungren,  John . 

....  94 

Morgan,  J.  C . 

. ...  331 

Lydig,  David . 

....  145 

Morris  &  Rogers . 

....  169 

Lyon,  Matthew . 90,  139,  225  Morrison  &  Case  Paper  Co...  310 


Morss  &  Whyte .  184 

Macintire,  J.  J .  331 

Mac  Sim  Bar  Paper  Co .  339  Nashua  River  Paper  Co . 325 

McCluskey  &  Sons,  H.  &  T. . .  186  National  Board  &  Paper  Co.. .  312 

McDougal,  James .  80  National  Wall  Paper  Co .  312 

McDowells,  The . 266-7  Nekoosa-Edwards 

McEwans,  The . 168,  332  Paper  Co . 310,  339 

McLean,  Hugh . 24,  51,  132  Newcomb,  Charles  C .  181 

McMurray,  John .  184  New  Hampshire . 274,  313,  323 

Magaw,  William . 221  New  Jersey . 17,  275,  332 

Maine . 24-7,  42,  139,  273,  301  Newspaper  from  Straw  Pulp.  222 

Manufacturers’ Investment  Co.  313  News  Print  Manufacturers’ 

Marathon  Paper  Mills  Co .  339  Association  .  300 

Marietta  Pulp  Co .  337  Newton  Brothers . 248 

Markle  &  Drum .  160  New  York,  16,  36,  91,  115,  148, 

Markle,  Joseph .  121  275,  259,  328 

Martin,  Walter .  156  New  York  &  Pennsylvania  Co.  332 

Martin,  William .  162  Niagara  Falls  Mill .  328 

Maryland  . 96,  334  Niagara  Falls  Paper  Co .  331 


350 


INDEX 


Niagara  Glazed  Paper  Co .  331 

Niagara  Wood  Paper  Co .  331 

Nichols  &  Kendall .  253 

Nixon,  Martin  &  William  H.228, 
265-  ,  331 

Noonan  &  McNab .  280 

North  Carolina .  97 

Northwest  Paper  Co .  340 

Norton,  J.  L .  331 

Norton,  Josiah .  139 

Oak  Cliff  Mill .  337 

Oakland  Paper  Co .  202 

Odell  Manufacturing  Co .  323 

Oglesby  Paper  Co .  280 

Ohio . 165,  276,  340 

Ohio  Box  Board  Co .  341 

Old  Berkshire  Mill .  244 

Old  Red  Mill .  243 

Old  Red  Neenah  Mill . 281 

Olney,  Christopher .  89 

Onderdonk,  Hendrich . 36,  60 

O’Neil  Wire  Works,  Joseph..  186 

Ontario  Paper  Co .  263 

Outterson,  James  A .  330 

Owen,  Charles  M . 130,  197 

Oxford  Paper  Co .  321 

Pacific  Coast .  342 

Pack,  Albert .  234 

Pagenstechers,  The . 303,  235 

Paine,  Augustus  G . 309,  332 

Palisade  Mill .  327 

Paper  City,  The .  244 

Paper  Mill  Run . 3,  9 

Paper  Products  Co .  312 

Paper,  Quality  of  Early .  74 

Paper  Trade  Journal,  The. . . .  298 
Paper  Trade  Reporter,  The...  298 

Parker,  Jonas .  135 

Parker,  William .  83 

Parks,  Frederick  H .  303 

Parks,  John  H .  312 

Parks,  William .  33 

Parsons,  Joseph  C . 248 

Parsons  Pulp  &  Paper  Co....  336 
Patents,  98,  135,  174,  186,  214,  220-6 

Patten,  Nathaniel .  80 

Pejepscot  Paper  Co .  321 

Pennsylvania . 1,  3,  10-14,  29, 

205,  221-7,  264,  275,  332 


Pensacola  Mill .  337 

Persee  &  Brooks .  258 

Pettebone  Paper  Co .  330 

Phelps  &  Spafford .  181 

Philadelphia  Mfg.  Co .  230 

Philadelphia  Paper  Mfg.  Co.  332 

Phillips  &  Spear .  167 

Phillipsdale  Mill .  327 

Phillips,  Gillam . 19-21 

Phillips,  Samuel . 85,  137 

Pickering  Mill .  180 

Pierce,  William .  52 

Piermont  Paper  Co .  329 

Pioneer  Mill .  153 

Pitkin,  Elisha .  156 

Plainer  &  Smith .  242 

Pooling,  Parks .  312 

Poor,  Daniel .  137 

Port  Edwards  Fibre  Co . 310 

Porters,  The . 150-5 

Prices.. 35-9,  70-2,  119,  121,  285-7 
297,  319. 

Prieger,  Ernest .  280 

Providence  Paper  Mills . 334 

Public  Ledger  Mills .  334 

Publishers  Paper  Co .  313 

Pusey  &  Jones  Co .  295 

Pyntree  Mill .  338 

Quigley,  John  F .  331 

Radnor  Mill .  336 

Rags.  ...28,  39,  60-7,  72,  113-8,  159 

219,  319 

Ramage,  James .  249 

Rand  &  Stockbridge .  139 

Readen,  John .  69 

Reed  Wire  Works .  186 

Remingtons,  The . 262,  328,  330 

Remsen,  Henry . 36,  60 

Rhode  Island . 89,  139,  143,  327 

Rice,  Alexander  H .  199 

Rice,  Barton  &  Fales .  295 

Rice,  Clark . 153,  188 

Rice,  Thomas .  199 

Richards,  Francis .  322 

Richardson  Paper  Co .  341 

Richmond  Paper  Co .  231 

Rigdon,  Thomas  P .  279 

Rittenhouse  . 3-10,  70,  266 


Riverdale  Fibre  &  Paper  Co...  339 


INDEX 


351 


River  Raisin  Paper  Co .  339 

Riverside  Paper  Co .  283 

Riverton  Co .  327 

Roanoke  Fibre  Board  Mill...  338 

Robert,  Nicholas  Louis .  172 

Roberts,  Sydney .  282 

Roberts  &  Son,  John .  133 

Robertson,  Henry  M .  331 

Rochester,  Nathaniel .  148 

Rock  City  Paper  Mfg.  Co....  168 

Rockland  Mill . 334 

Rocky  River  Paper  Co .  281 

Rogers  family .  160,  202 

Rossmans  .  260 

Russell,  William  A . 238,  303 

Rumford  Falls  Paper  Co . 295 

St.  Lawrence  Paper  Co .  263 

St.  Croix  Paper  Co . 310,  321 

St.  Regis  Paper  Co . 328-9 

Sanderson,  Isaac . 132,  178 

Saur,  Christopher . 31-3,  70 

Savels,  John . 132,  139 

Schenck,  Garrett .  309 

Schoelkopf,  J.  F .  331 

Scott,  John . 160,  161 

Sellers  family . 54-6,  189,  226 

Sewell  Mill .  337 

Seymour,  Ashbel .  92 

Seymour  Paper  Co . 259,  301 

Sharpless,  Jonathan . 95,  163 

Sheffield  &  Son,  J.  B .  179 

.  Shipley,  Stephen .  255 

Shryock,  George  A . 161,  221 

Shuler  &  Benninghofen .  182 

Simonds,  Case  &  Co .  156 

Singley  Pulp  &  Paper  Co....  313 

Singerley,  William  M .  335 

Sizes  of  Paper .  120 

Slater,  John .  52 

Smith  &  Bassett . 203 

Smith  &  Co.,  Bradner . 281 

Smith  &  Winchester .  180 

Smith,  Abijah .  23 

Smith,  Charles .  184 

Smith,  Elizur . . . 241 

Smith,  Jeremiah . 23,  24,  132 

Smith  Paper  Co . 235,  241 

Smith,  Joseph  W .  162 

Snider  Mills .  280 


Snow,  Benjamin .  255 

Soda  Pulp .  228 

Southern  Board  &  Paper  Mills  342 

Southern  Paper  Mills .  268 

Southworth  Brothers .  249 

Southworth  Mfg.  Co.. . .  249 

Sower,  Christopher .  31 

Speed  of  Machines . 294 

Standard  Straw  Board  Co....  307 

Standard  Wire  Works . 184-6 

Staniar  &  Laffey  Wire  Co.. .  .184-6 

Staniar,  William .  182 

Statistics . 289,  314,  321 

Steadman,  E.  H .  169 

Steadman,  Ebenezer .  132 

Stebbins,  Daniel .  225 

Steele,  George  F .  300 

Stephens  &  Thomas .  183 

Stevenson  Pulp  Mill .  337 

Straw-board  .  305 

Straw  paper . 202,  221,  260 

Streeper,  William .  10 

Stone  Fort  Mill .  337 

Sullivan,  John .  132 

Sulphite  Fiber . 230-4 

Sunnydale  Mill .  163 

Superior  Paper  Co .  310 

Susquehanna  Water 

Power  &  Paper  Co .  334 

Symonds,  Charles  H.  &  Jesse.  155 

Taggarts  Brothers  Co . 263 

Taggarts  Paper  Co .  263 

Talbot  county  Mill .  335 

Tammerts,  John  C .  331 

Tariff  duties.  102,  112,  195,  285,  318 

Taylor,  Mahlon .  91 

Technical  Training .  301 

Tempest,  Francis .  165 

Tennessee  . 167,  269 

Tennessee  Fibre  Mill .  337 

Thatcher,  Samuel .  196 

Thilmany  Pulp  &  Paper  Co...  339 

Thistle  Wire  Co .  186 

Thomas,  Isaiah . 85,  109 

Thomas,  Samuel  T .  181 

Thomson,  Peter  G .  280 

Thurbefs,  The .  89 

Tidewater  Mill .  328 


Tileston  &  Hollingsworth....  325 


352 


INDEX 


Tlleston,  Edmund .  132 

Tilgliman,  Benjamin  C .  230 

Tissue  Paper  3  rust .  313 

Tompkins,  Staats  D . 204,  259 

Tonawanda  Board  &  Pulp  Co.  329 

Trade  Marks . 141,  266 

Tresse,  Thomas .  36 

Trimble,  William .  94 

Trueman,  Morris .  94 

Tunis,  Abraham .  10 

Turkey  Mill .  242 

Turner,  Robert . 3,  6 

Turners  Falls  Pulp  Co .  238 

Tyler  Wire  Works .  186 

Tytus  Paper  Co . 280,  310 

Union  Bag  &  Paper  Co .  308 

Union  Mill .  242 

Union  Paper  Mfg  Co .  283 

Union  Straw  Board  Co .  306 

Union  Waxed 

&  Parchment  Paper  Co .  313 

United  Box  Board 

&  Paper  Co .  307 

United  Box  Board  Co .  308 

United  Paperboard  Co.... 308,  332 

United  Paper  Co .  303 

University  of  Maine .  301 

University  of  Wisconsin . 301 

Utah  .  282 

Valentine,  John .  125 

Value  of  Early  Mills... 3,  6,  8,  10, 
12,  26,  145,  193 

Van  De  Carrs .  260 

Van  Houten,  Cornelius .  183 

Vermont . 90,  274,  324 

Virginia  . 33-5,  336 

Voelter,  Henry., .  234 

Vose,  Daniel . 24,  132,  326 

Wages .  72 

Waldo,  Samuel .  24-8 

Waldorf  Box  Board  Co .  340 

Walker,  Zadoc .  160 

Wallace  family . 255-6 

Wallsmith  .  165 

Ware,  John . 83,  135 

Warren  &  Co.,  S.  D .  321 

Warrens,  The .  133 

Watah  Pulp  &  Paper  Co .  340 


Waterman,  Richard . 139,  188 

Water  Marks,  Early.... 9,  13,  30 

Watertown,  N.  Y .  262 

Watertown  Paper  Co .  263 

Watson  Co.,  11.  h' .  334 

Watson,  Ebenezer .  89 

Watt,  Charles .  226 

Webster,  Ensign  &  Seymour..  155 

Websters,  The .  92 

Westbrook,  Thomas .  24 

West  End  Paper  Co .  330 

Western  Box  Board  Co .  312 

West  Fitchburg  Paper  Co....  255 

Weston  &  Mead .  277 

Weston,  Byron .  244 

West  Virginia . 208,  336 

West  Va.  Pulp  &  Paper  Co.. 310-36 

Wheaton  &  Eddy .  139 

Wheeling  Mill .  337 

Wheelwright,  Charles  S .  231 

Wheelwright  Paper  Co .  325 

Whipple,  Milton  D .  226 

Whiteman,  William  S . 168,  269 

White  Mountain  Paper  Co....  312 

Whiting  Paper  Co .  247 

Whitney,  Leonard .  326 

Willamette  Pulp  &  Paper  Co..  294 

Willard,  John . 114,  129 

Willcox  family,  11,  13,  70,  94,  205 

Willcox  Mills . 12-4,  53-7,  69 

Windsor  Locks,  Conn .  258 

Wisconsin . 280,  338 

Wissahickon  Creek . 3,  9 

Wiswall,  Henry .  114 

Wiswell,  Augustus  C .  197 

VTswell,  Enoch .  83 

Wood  &  Remington .  156 

Woodbine  Mill .  335 

Woodman,  Henry .  23 

Wood-Pulp  .  225 

Woodruff  &  Pettebone .  330 

Woodruff,  L.  C .  155 

Woods  Falls  Mill .  328 

Wooster,  Lewis .  225 

Workman,  Alfred .  186 

Wright,  Eleazer .  85 

Yarnall,  Isaac .  169 

York  Haven  Paper  Co .  334 

Youngs,  The .  335 


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GETTY  CENTER  LIBRARY 


